Ringranger and Equinger: Adventures Together
by TheAPPstore
Summary: Even without their ranger powers, the two teams are still encountering scenarios far different from what they're used to. From simple encounters to events that involve everyone, it seems like the two teams can't catch a break. As they spend the remainder of the year together, they soon place themselves on a path that would lead them into a new chapter of their lives.
1. First Encounters

**Episode 1 (Updated)**

 **"First Encounters"**

* * *

The Columbian Competition Center is getting ready for another annual event, ready to host matches in many skill area. People from all over the country flock to the center to watch their favorite skill athletes succeed or to participate in matches themselves.

On that faithful day, two of the attendants will encounter each other. And their lives will be changed forever.

* * *

 **[Beginning of Episode]**

The Columbian Competition Center. It's a massive place. Spanning acres in every direction, this place has gotten many stadiums to host sport events and many buildings to host smaller skill competitions. The place is frequently used, being the site of many decisive matches of major sports teams. To date, hundreds of sports matches have been hosted in the competition center since it was founded over 25 years ago, and thousands more matches between residents of nearby cities.

Today, it is hosting a Skill Competition, where those who are skilled in several non-essential tasks gather around to test each other in various skills, like solving a maze, completing puzzles, stacking cups, and balancing plates. To top things off, the center will host a major sports battle between two major sports teams to see which one will move on to the multinational championship, where the team to beat every other team is crowned this year's champion. Tickets are in high demand right now as sports fans flock to see their favorite team win.

* * *

Out the southbound train, a young girl with prismatic hair departs from it. This is Rainbow Dash, one of the rangers from Canterlot High. She is currently a member of the Rainbooms, also known as the Equingers. She is the team leader of that team.

She steps off the train in the morning hours, only to find that she is surrounded by a lot of people who wanted to get in. The lines are long, and she couldn't quite make out what's in front of her. Surrounding her are some teens who appear to be about the same age as her. Guess she's not the only one whose parents are okay with sending their child out on their own. Or maybe they have family members joining.

"Oh my," Rainbow gasped. "This crowd is huge! No wonder the tickets are so expensive right now! The demand for them is so large for a limited amount of space." She can hear her voice being drowned out by the hundreds of people who are talking right next to her.

Right now, Rainbow's freaking out a little. She takes in a deep breath to assure herself. "Okay, Rainbow," she told herself. "This is what you wanted to go to today. Lots of people also have the same idea. Don't get impatient over a couple hundred people. You'll be fine. This is to be expected."

It took several minutes of waiting before she is even close to the ticket gate. Even now, she can feel herself getting pushed by the surrounding people.

"Hey!" she yelled as she is getting pushed. "Excuse me people. Give us some space, would you? You're making it hard for me to breathe. It's...kind of tight in here!"

After a few more minutes of waiting for people to get moving, Rainbow finally made it to the ticket gates. She scans her ticket to the center in front of the scanner to verify that the ticket she's brought is authentic and not a counterfeit. Her ticket is labeled authentic and real and she is allowed to pass.

Upon exiting the entrance, Rainbow is greeted with a huge open area, with stadiums and courts covering the entire area. Several smaller buildings were placed, presumably for the smaller, skill based competitions. Seats were being rolled out to every event site, so that everyone has a seat during their visit. Rainbow is awed by this, taking in the atmosphere of the competition center.

"This. Is. Awesome!" Rainbow shouted, pumping her fists up in the air.

* * *

Now she is near the stands as people waited for the first competition to start. Rainbow looks around the area and starts to feel lonely. She haven't brought her friends along, so she is going at this on her own. She starts to get a little bit nervous without her friends, and starts to develop concerns for them. What if they encountered a monster that they can't defeat by themselves? Then she'll have a bad situation in her hands.

Amongst the colored hair, multicolored crowd, and the spectrum of clothing colors, she spotted something. A boy. A boy with blue hair. A boy with blue hair and blue skin. Suddenly, she starts to feel a bit more comforted, as she knows that one of her friends has decided to come.

Rainbow happily approached the boy from behind. "Hey there, Soarin," she greeted the boy. "I didn't know that you were coming here. I haven't seen you in a while. Why don't we have a chat and-" She grabs what she thought was one of her old friend by the shoulder.

The boy suddenly jumps. "Hey, who is touching me?" he asks. "What is..." He then turns around to reveal his emerald colored eyes. Then, he jumps back, shrieking. "Ahh! Who are you?" He is caught by someone.

Rainbow looks down at the boy. "Soarin, is that you?" she asks.

The boy was confused. "What? Soarin?" he asked back. "Who's that? I never heard of him before."

"Oh, Soarin," Rainbow said again. "I know that it's you. Don't try to hide the fact that you've forgotten me after all those years."

The boy gets up and cleans his arms and red vest. "Lady, I have to tell you something," he said. "I am not Soarin."

"Oh yeah?" Rainbow replies. "Then who are you?"

The boy takes his time to assure himself. "My name is Sonic," he answers. "Sonic Rush. But just call me Sonic, okay?"

"Oh, so you're Sonic?" Rainbow asks. Then, she grabs his hand and shakes it. "I'm Rainbow Dash. Nice to meet you." Sonic then pulls his hand away from Rainbow. "Huh. I swear that you look like someone that I know from long ago. I mean, you've got the hair, the skin, the eyes-"

"What do you mean that I look like someone?" Sonic asks. "Do I...remind you of someone else?"

Suddenly, someone behind Sonic gasps in excitement. Behind Sonic, a girl with red hair and a familiar set of green eyes jumps out.

"Are you...Rainbow Dash?" the girl asks.

Rainbow looks at the girl in confusion. "What?"

"This is Ringo," Sonic introduces. "She's from some other country that is not here. She's accompany me here because my sister couldn't come."

Ringo leans a little closer to Rainbow. "Are you the friend of Applejack?" she asks. "She's my cousin. Did you make the connection yet?"

"Applejack's your what now?" Rainbow asks in confusion.

"My cousin," Ringo repeats herself.

Rainbow ponders for a moment. Ringo, this mysterious girl, claims to be the cousin of Applejack. Well, she can't be wrong. They've got similarly colored skin, the hair is within the same color range, and the color of her eyes is nearly identical. Sure. Ringo could be the cousin of Applejack. There's also her name. Rainbow swears that Ringo means apple in another language, but she can't pin down which.

"So, uh, Rainbow," Sonic began as he rotates his shoulder. "What are you here for?"

"Just interested in the tournaments that are being hosted here," Rainbow answers. "And also the big game this evening."

"So...what's your hobby?" Sonic asks again. "Mine is playing sports. Got to say, I'm the best young athlete the world has ever seen!"

Something about what Sonic said nudges Rainbow by an inch in an unpleasant direction. She leans a bit closer to Sonic. "What did you say?" she asks in a threatening tone.

"Uhh..." Sonic replied. "I said that I'm the best young athlete the world has ever seen. You...you got a problem with that?"

Suddenly, Rainbow is yelling right at Sonic's face. "Hey! I'm also the best young athlete in the world!" she yells. "And this world isn't big enough for the two of us, imitator!"

Ringo is seeing where this is going. "Oh boy..." she grumbles.

Sonic shot back at Rainbow. "Well, I became one first!" he tells her. "So, I'm the real best young athlete here in the world! Don't you understand?"

Rainbow fired back. "Well, I became one when I was 6 years old!" she tells him. "I'm the real best young athlete. And don't you dare use time as an excuse."

Sonic was getting increasingly frustrated by this stubborn girl. Ditto for Rainbow. It seems like they can't agree on who is the better athlete. So they started to shout at each other even more.

"Me!" yelled Rainbow.

"Me!" Sonic shouted back.

"Me!"

"Me!"

"Me!"

"Me!"

"Alright, you two," Ringo said as she walks up to them. "Calm down. You're not part of any competition. Now, just admit that you're both the best and agree that neither of you will top each other in a duel. Understand?"

Sonic and Rainbow then get into a fight, startling Ringo as she steps back.

Soon, everyone around them turns their attention to the fight that's going on. They are pretty confuses about what's going on.

"So...uh...this is fine..." Ringo commented. "You're fighting each other to see which one can beat each other to the ground. Right..."

The fight dies down and turns into a wrestling match, with each person taking turns pinning each other down. Sonic and Rainbow tossed and turned as they continued to fight. The surrounding crowd isn't sure who to root for, or if they should take action and break off the fight. It seems like they recognize them and loved them both, but they can't decide what to do.

The announcer is looking through some paperwork to check the timeline of the events. The first event of the day is the obstacle course which should be happening in about 20 minutes.

Suddenly, a security guard run into the room with something to report.

"Sir. There appears to be a fight going on near stadium 1!" he reported.

"Oh, there appears to be a fight going on?" the announcer asks. "Kick them out. We don't want anyone getting into danger. Besides, the events hasn't even begun yet."

"No," the security guard replies. "It's...those two. The leaders of the ranger teams of Columbia."

"What?" the announcer asks as he takes off his headset.

The security guard drags his coworker by the collar as they exit the room. "Here, you should have a look at this," he said.

* * *

"Oh my," the announcer comments. "Those two do look an awful like the rangers we saw defending the two major cities from time to time. Seen them on the news and media a bit more frequently recently."

"They're athletes, aren't they?" the security guard asks. "I think they specialize in sports?"

The announcer ponders a bit more. "Come to think of it, this place is the site of the final match against two sports teams," he said. "I think these two would be the perfect duo to excite the visitors about the upcoming major game tonight."

The security guard turns towards the announcer with a shocked look. "Mr. Mobius," he said. "You're not thinking-"

* * *

Sonic and Rainbow continue to fight with each other as everyone around them watches. Suddenly, they are blinded by a unnecessarily bright light from somewhere else, and they stopped fighting with each other altogether.

"Well, well, well," Mr. Mobius said from his announcer box. "Look at what we have here. Two teenagers, both leaders of the local ranger teams." Everyone stopped talking and looked at them.

Sonic and Rainbow both got up, dusting off the little bits of dust they gained from the fight.

"As some of you are aware, the nearby stadium will be hosting the big game tonight between the Beryl Knights and the Ruby Buffalos," Mr. Mobius announces. "This game will decide which of the two teams will be moving on to the International League of the North American Union. And today, these two young professional athletes will be paying against each other to get you guys excited for the big game that's coming up. What do you say?"

The crowd was silent at first, before one of them begins to cheer them up.

"Go! Go! Go! Go!" one of them said.

The cheering spread to more people. And more. And more. Soon, nearly everyone that's near them is cheering them on, getting themselves ready for the match between these two.

Sonic and Rainbow stared at each other, blaming each other for putting themselves into this situation.

"Well," Ringo sighs. "This is going to be a bit awkward."

* * *

Throughout the day, several tournaments were being held. From solving grid puzzles, to crossword puzzles, to spelling bees, to video game tournaments. Several of these are even held at the same time, meaning people had to choose which tournaments to follow. They might not get to see all the tournaments, but there's so much going on today. Battle after battle, people are getting excited to see which one will top the other.

Even the sports players who are supposed to be playing tonight are having a great time.

Except for Sonic and Rainbow. They are denied access to all of the events after noon has stuck. They had their fun for only 150 minutes before they are called to the changing room.

They sit just outside the changing rooms, sitting in front of the door that will lead them to the large field for large team games. The game that these two will be playing is kickball, one of the most popular sports in the world. Not only is it safe compared to large field sports, it is a sport that is enjoyed by everyone. It is the perfect mix of competition and safety.

The two ranger leaders are waiting for their cue to get out. They're still bitter about each other, not willing to talk to each other. But, since they're in here for half an hour, its' not like they've gotten anyone else to talk to.

"I can't believe that you've mistaken me for someone else," Sonic said to Rainbow.

"I swear," Rainbow replied. "You look so much like Soarin. The hair, the eyes, the skin. Every time I look at you, I am reminded of him. Sure, it was a long time since we last saw each other-"

"Who?" Sonic asks. "Me, or that look-alike of me?"

"I'm talking about Soarin," Rainbow answers. "It's just that...the last time I saw him was in elementary school. And after that, we barely talked to each other. But then I met you, and I'm instantly reminded of him. So, if you may reply, can I be your friend?"

Sonic scoffs at Rainbow's offering. "Well, that's not going to matter as I will beat you in this match," he replies.

Rainbow gives a smirk at Sonic. She moves herself toward him. "Well, I'm going to beat you at this match too, you know," she said back. "And that's a fact." She taps Sonic by the nose.

"Oh, quit it," Sonic said as he pushes Rainbow away from him.

"Sonic, Rainbow," Mr. Mobius announces from the speakers above. "The field is set up. You are clear to go."

Sonic and Rainbow both stand up as the doors open to them. The bright light blinds them for a moment, but they step outside without hesitation. As they stop out to the field, thousands of fans cheer them on, filling the air with the sounds of cheering. The two soon went into opposite sides of the field, with Sonic on the red corner and Rainbow on the blue.

"Here we go, everyone," Mr. Mobius said. "Sonic Rush vs. Rainbow Dash. Who is going to win this little match? Who's the better athlete? And who is the better leader of their ranger team? This is getting tense, everyone. I can feel your excitement from here. 10 minutes on the clock, Sonic and Rainbow. When the air horn goes off, begin!"

An employee walks into the field to place a kickball at the center before heading out.

Sonic and Rainbow looked at each other as they tense their muscles up. Things are heating up between the two of them. Sweat begins to drop from their head.

Then, someone pulls off the air horn, creating a loud sound that announces the beginning of the math.

And they're off! They start the games off by running straight towards the ball. Sonic reaches it first and kicks it off to the goal on the other side. Rainbow turns around and it turns into a race to see which of the two can make it to the ball quicker. The audience gets pumped up as the two race toward the ball.

Rainbow reaches the ball first and sweeps it away from Sonic. The ball bounces towards the other side, and another race is made.

The announcer is in a bit of a ham streak. He announces the actions of the players left and right as they happen.

While Sonic and Rainbow are busy fighting over the ball, two goalies entered the field. One is wearing red, the other is wearing blue. The two goalies move to their respective goals an guard them.

"What's this?" Mr. Mobius observes. "Two goalies have arrived? But this is supposed to be a one on one match! Oh well. At least these two will have a bit of challenge when scoring the goal."

Rainbow then dribbles the ball towards the red corner, with the goalie getting ready to intercept her kick. Before she could kick the ball, Sonic appeared from behind her and stole the ball from her. She then chases him down as he dribbles the ball towards the blue corner, where a goalie prepares himself to intercept the kick. Sonic then approaches the goal, kicks the ball, and it soars over the goalie's head. The ball landed in blue corner's net, scoring a point for the red corner. 8 minutes in, and someone has finally scored. The crowd is going wild as soon as one of the sides scored a point.

"1-0!" Mr. Mobius announces. "The red corner is in the lead! Can they held on to this victory before the blue corner takes it from behind?"

The blue corner goalie kicks the ball back into the field, towards Rainbow Dash. Rainbow catches the ball and proceeds to dribble it towards the red goal. She approaches the red goal and kicks the ball. But the red goalie intercepts it.

"Oh!" Mr. Mobius shouted. "The red goalie has intercepted Rainbow's attempt to score herself a point!"

The red goalie kicks the ball back onto the field, away from Rainbow. But Rainbow ran up to the ball before Sonic could reach it, and she makes another attempt at kicking the ball to the goal. The ball lands within the net, scoring the blue corner one point.

The crowd cheers as Rainbow makes a comeback after a failed attempt. "Wow!" Mr. Mobius announces. "Rainbow has made up for her failed attempt by intercepting the ball before Sonic can catch it! What an unexpected turn of events! Now, both sides have one point each. Can someone get another goal?"

The round continues for quite some time, with the ball changing hands several times throughout the match. Whenever Rainbow would approach the goal, Sonic would appear and steal the ball from her. But when he tries to do the same, Rainbow catches up to him and steals the ball from him as well. The goalies are also denying either of them the goal, with several attempts at scoring being intercepted by them. Even with those intercepted attempts, the players are still able to score.

On minute five, the halfway point in the match, Sonic scores himself a point, bringing the point total to 2-1. A minute after that, Rainbow made another goal, making the match currently a tie at 2-2. A minute after that, Sonic scored yet another point bringing the score to 3-2. And then a minute after that, Rainbow scored another point, making the score 3-3.

One minute remains on the clock. The score is currently tied at 4-4.

"The match will end in one minute," Mr. Mobius announces. "And Rainbow scored yet another point right now, making both sides tied for now. But can one of them score another point before the time runs out?"

The crowd is getting more and more excited as the seconds tick down.

Rainbow runs to the red goal, dribbling the ball as she goes. She approaches the other side of the field and gets ready to score. She cranks her leg back and surprise! Sonic swoops in and steals the ball from her, taking it to the blue goal. The crowd is getting wild.

"Oh!" Mr. Mobius said. "Sonic has stole the ball right when Rainbow is about to score another goal! 10 seconds left on the clock, everyone. Can he do it?"

The crowd is shouting go as Sonic approaches the blue goal. He kicks the ball, expecting to get another goal to win himself the game. Time seems to be slowing down as the ball soars through the air. The ball turns midair, turning the opposite direction in which it is spinning. Sonic wishes to win the match by a strange physical phenomenon.

The ball is about to enter the scoring area, exciting everyone. But at the last moment, the blue goalie intercepted and caught the ball before it could reach the scoring area. The buzzer goals off, signaling the end of the match as the goalie hits the ground. But the match is not over yet.

"NO!" Mr. Mobius yells along with the crowd. "It's not over yet! The blue corner's goalie has intercepted the legendary kick at the last moment! Sonic and Rainbow are currently tied at the moment, so we'll have to add five minutes to the clock! If nether could score within five minutes, we'll have to declare this a tie!"

Rainbow ran up and fell down to the ground. "Oh come on!" she shouted. "You have got to be kidding me!"

Sonic was shocked at what he saw. "You...you can't be serious!" he said. "We are tied right now. Are you saying that you are willing to drag on the match for even longer rather than end it right now?"

"Hey! You two!" Mr. Mobius yells. "Stop slaking and continue to play!"

The blue goalie kicks the ball towards the center of the field, hitting Rainbow in the face. She gets knocked on her back as she rubs her head. Sonic then came along and snatched the ball once again, escorting it to the blue goal. Sonic kicks the ball into the net, but his hasty actions has made the ball bounce off the top rim of the net, sending it back into the field. Rainbow snatches the ball and the match continues.

Now, Sonic and Rainbow are continuing to play for the sake of ending the match right now instead of winning. The goalies aren't helping, as just as when everyone expected the match to end with a goal, the goalie would intercept the ball before it could get into the scoring area, denying Sonic, Rainbow, and the audience for an end to this match. It seems like the goalies that ran in to help them out are now teasing them of the end and then taking it away before someone could reach it.

The match continues for another five minutes. Five minutes of running, attempts to score, and the ball changing possessions several times. Five minutes of the goalies having a little fun with the players by blocking attempts to score.

Nothing of interest happened for a while until the last few seconds, when Rainbow is dribbling the ball to the red goal. And everyone gets excited.

"Here we go!" Mr. Mobius cheers. "Rainbow is taking the ball to the red corner after several minutes of agony. Sonic might be on her toes, but surely this will end the goal that will bring an end to the match. Can she do it? Will she bring an end to this match when the buzzer goes off? Ten seconds left of the overtime clock, guys."

Rainbow approaches the red goal and kicks the ball toward it. As the ball flies through the air, time slows down as the dramatic moment comes. Tensions flair up, excitement is rising, and victory is about to be handed to one of the players.

However, the goalie seems to have other things in mind. When the ball approaches the net that he's defending, he decided to pull out the dirtiest trick in the book: denying victory to the side he's fighting against. He intercepts the ball and grabs it, never letting it pass the scoring line.

The crowed went into a bit of an uproar as the overtime buzzer goes off.

"Oh for saint's sake," Mr. Mobius mutters. "This again? What? Are you willing to repeat what happened five minutes ago? Don't make us laugh. Are you trolling these two players? If so, you are the meanest goalies I have ever seen. What's gotten into you two?"

Sonic and Rainbow, seeing that the match ended in a 4-4 tie, fell to the ground in exhaustion. Sonic fell on his face, while Rainbow fell on her back. They pounded the ground in frustration.

"Good grief," Sonic said, his voice muffled. "This again?"

"...I was trying to end the match with me being the victor," Rainbow commented. "What are the goalies thinking?"

The two goalies went up to them to have a talk.

"You two are so similar," the red goalie commented. "I mean, your styles, your skills, your determination, your attitude."

Sonic and Rainbow lifted themselves up. "Really?"

"We watched you as you played and noticed that you're both the best young athlete in quite possibly the world," the blue goalie replied. "Safe to say that we're both amazed by your abilities."

"Okay," Rainbow replies. "So, why did you block the goal attempts during overtime?"

"We just wanted to drag out the match so that the two of you better understand each other," the red goalie answered. "A little bit of more time can't hurt. Oh, and it looks like you two have developed feeling for each other."

"What?" both of them said. They looked down on their hands and discovered that they're holding each other's hand. They let out, shrieking in surprise.

The two goalies had a laugh. "Oh intense moments," the blue goalie said. "Always bringing two people closer together."

Sonic and Rainbow looked at each other for a moment. They didn't realized that the match brought them closer to each other, even if they're playing on opposite teams.

* * *

Sonic and Rainbow changed back into their normal clothes. They decided to hang out in the locker rooms for just a little longer.

"Hey, Rainbow," Sonic said.

Rainbow turned towards Sonic. "What is it?"

"Got to say, today's been a crazy day for the two of us," Sonic said. "We met each other and had a kickball match against each other. And I've got to say, I'm surprised by how that went. We were able to pull off an exciting sport match even if we're playing on our own, with the only help coming from the two goalies."

Rainbow giggled. "Sure thing," she replied. "There's also the comment about our similarities. I mean, can you believe it? We've got the same attitude, the same skill level in one area, the determination to keep going even when in despair, and we've tied in an official sports match. If this keeps on going, we're going to be shocked by how we managed to do that."

Sonic inspects Rainbow and is starting to get drawn in by one aspect of her. "Hey...you look...uh..." he said, looking at Rainbow's hair.

Rainbow notices that Sonic is looking at her prismatic hair. She performs a hair flip in front of him before posing in a sassy manner. Her fist up to her hip, turned to the side, eyes partially closed, and a smug grin. "Let me guess," Rainbow responded. "Radiant?"

Sonic isn't quite sure about how to respond to that.

* * *

The rest of the day went out well for the two of them. They attended several tournaments that were going on within the competition center. There was a ping=pong tournament going on, where spectators would get headaches from watching the ball move back and fourth around the table until someone misses. There was also cooking competitions, where aspiring chefs make food to hopefully please the judges. And there was a cup stacking competition where people stack cups into specific configurations in the shortest about of time. The amount of tournaments that centers around mundane and unnecessarily tasks hosted in this competition center is mind blowing.

To remember this event as the time where they first met each other, Sonic and Rainbow took a picture together. Two copies of the picture were printed, allowing both of them to remember this moment forever.

As evening beings to fall on the center, it is time for the big attraction: The sports match between the Beryl Knights and the Ruby Buffalos. Everyone flocks to the big stadium to see this big event between two sports teams.

As Beryl City on the lowlands and Ruby City is a lot farther from Sonic's home town, Sonic and Rainbow cheered for the Beryl Knights. Plus, knights sounds a lot more noble than a buffalo.

Sitting next to them is Ringo, along with the rest of her classmates. Ringo had a little talk with the two of them a the game goes on.

"Hey," Ringo said, grabbing the duo's attention. "I'm sorry that neither of you two won that match between each other."

"Doesn't matter," Sonic replied. "We had a lot of fun, even if neither of us claimed victory."

"Plus, we learned a lot about each other," Rainbow added. "We learned that we're very similar in a lot of area."

Ringo smiled at them. "Well, I've got to say," she admitted. "That match between you two was a blast to watch. On par with the matches between the official sports team. Oh, and Rainbow? Can you make me a promise?"

"What is it?" Rainbow asks.

"Tell Applejack that I'm visiting her hometown," Ringo tells Rainbow.

Suddenly, the crowd goes while when a famous member of the Beryl Knights is kicking the ball towards the goal.

"Go for it!" Rainbow cheers.

"Go! Go! Go! Go!" the crowd cheers. They continue to do this until the player kicks the ball into the net, scoring a point to the Beryl Knights. The crowd cheers in excitement.

The evening game took two hours to complete. It took so long that everyone is nearly tired when the game finally ended.

Thanks to the support that the fans bring in, the Beryl Knights managed to win the match, with a close 25-23, making them candidates to move on to the union finals.

* * *

The night falls and the event comes to close. Visitors were exiting the competition center for home. For this night, Rainbow offered to bring him to her house to sleep tonight before he returns to his home the following morning. Sonic agrees to this. They then board the next northbound train with destination at Canterlot City Station. There, they walked with each other a little more, sharing more information about themselves. They then arrived at Canterlot, where Sonic is awed by this strange new place. It feels the same place as his home, only the skyline out in the distance is different.

Rainbow takes Sonic to her home, where she knocks on the door and waits for someone to answer. Her parents opened the door to them.

"Welcome back, my daughter," Rainbow's father said. Her mother is also behind him.

"Hi mom," Rainbow greets back. "Hi dad."

"What's this boy you picked up?" Rainbow's dad asked, leaning closer to Sonic. "He looks a bit familiar, doesn't he?"

"Sonic's the name," Sonic introduces himself. "I'm a professional young sports athlete just like Rainbow here. I'm the son of Aleena, the principal of Emerald-"

"You're the child of a principal?" Rainbow's dad asked, with her mother also gasping. "That's so much cooler than having a coach as a father!"

Rainbow's dad then proceeded to lift Sonic up, hugging him tightly. Rainbow's mother giggled as Sonic kicked his legs in the air.

"Hey! Put me down!" Sonic demanded.

Rainbow also giggled at Sonic. "Now you know exactly how I feel around my parents in my younger years."

* * *

The next day, Sonic is waiting at a train station for a train that's going southbound towards Emerald City.

"Well, I guess this is goodbye for now," Sonic said.

"I'm looking forward into seeing you again, Sonic!" Rainbow hoped.

Sonic gave a smile at Rainbow. "You too."

The southbound train arrives and Sonic boards the train. He turns around and waves goodbye at Rainbow. Rainbow waves back. After the train went away, Rainbow realized something: her friends. Surely they must be fine without her, right? Realizing this, Rainbow makes a dash towards the local youth center to get to her friends.

Later, Sonic arrives back home to Emerald City Station, where his parents are waiting.

"Welcome back, son," Aleena greeted. "Did you have a good time there?"

"Yeah," Sonic replied. "It was a blast."

"You friends are waiting for you at the local youth center," Aleena said. "You should talk to them after being absent for a day."

Sonic makes a mad sprint out the station and towards the local youth center. He sure is excited to see what his friends are doing in his absence.

* * *

While Rainbow is wondering what happened in her absence, someone from the class from Primp Academy walked into the youth center.

"Is Applejack here?" Ringo asks as she enters.

"What? Ringo?" Applejack jumped as she saw her cousin enter the youth center. "What are you doing here, cousin? Is the Apple Family Reunion coming up?"

Ringo pinched her nose in disapproval. "No, silly cowgirl," she replied. "You do realize that the reunion happens around the same time every year: The first week of Spring!" She then leans closer to Rainbow. "You didn't warn Applejack that I'm coming, didn't you?" she whispers to Rainbow.

"I was going to tell her," Rainbow replied. "But when I came back, I found that there were some minor changes. I'm sure that something happened to my friends while I was away."

 **[End of Episode]**

* * *

 **From the Author:**

The Ringrangers and the Equingers have finally met, though its only the leaders that did the meeting. While their friends are busy dealing with their own problems, Sonic and Rainbow participated in a match against each other. Even though that neither of them won, they still had a blast.

This will surely shake up the status quo, as the two teams have been separate since their inception. Though small nods towards their existence have appeared in the past, this is the first time in which the two teams are crossing paths, sending ripple effects through their future forever.

As a little nod, Ringo is mentioned to be a cousin to Applejack. As all members of the Apple Family has apple related names, it might seem strange that Ringo is breaking the trend. Except she's not. While she does have warm hued hair and green eyes, her name cements herself into being an official member of the Apple Family. Can you guess? I'll give you a hint: Try translating "Ringo" into another language.

Update: 4/20/2018  
-Added in a few more scenes featuring the tournaments that Sonic and Rainbow attended.  
-Added a small scene depicting Ringo's class visiting Canterlot City.  
-Added a deleted scene at the bottom of the page depicting the history of Puyo Puyo in this universe. And a Puyo match.

* * *

 **Deleted Scene:**

In the early days of Primp Academy, there has been numerous reports that colored slime creatures are falling from the sky and covered the entire campus grounds. They came in seemingly endless amounts. They don't know where they came from, and they don't know their purpose.

One day, a frustrated student kicked a blue slime into a group of three blue slimes, connecting them all. Upon doing so, the cluster of four suddenly disappeared. The student shrieked as the slime disappeared. She didn't know what happened. Upon experimenting with the slimes a few more times, she discovered that clumping the slimes into four or more made them disappear. It was fun for her, so much fun that the other students jumped in and cleaned the campus free of the slime creatures. The girl who discovered the secret of the slimes was named Puyo, so the slimes became known as Puyos.

Soon, a gaming company decided to turn this real live event into a video game. Thus, the game "Puyo Puyo" came into existence.

Eventually, the students discovered that the Puyos could grant them special abilities or power up their weapons. Thus, Primp Academy became a training grounds for students interested in magic.

The class from Primp Academy is currently having a tournament playing one of the recent versions of Puyo Puyo. Apparently, the competition center holds a video game room for games that pit two players against each other.

Arle and Ringo are currently playing a match against each other, when one of them notices that someone is missing.

"Hey, where is Sonic?" Arle asks. "I thought he was going to be here."

Ringo turns to the audience and notices the same thing. "Not only that, but Rainbow is absent to," she observes. "Were they not interested in this?"

"Their match ended a few minutes ago," Arle replies. "So they may not have enough time to come here. Oh, and Ringo. Watch your board."

"Huh?" Ringo said as she turns around. Then she notices that she's about to be hit with a lot of nuisance. And she didn't set up a chain to counter it. "Wah!" she shrieks as nuisance puyos began to drop on her field. The nuisance gets to the top of the board, making Ringo the loser of the match.

"Should've paid more attention..." Ringo groans in defeat.

* * *

Written by TheAPPstore

Sonic the Hedgehog and Puyo Puyo characters belong to Sega

My Little Pony characters belong to Hasbro


	2. Ringranger vs Equinger

**Episode 2**

 **"Ringranger Vs. Equinger"**

* * *

The Ringrangers and the Equingers have finally met each other, and its on a place where you might not expect an encounter to happen. After the events at Snakewater, the teens from four schools rush to Babylon Island, a mysterious place that was banished to this location shortly after arriving at modern day Columbia.

Tensions will rise, new friendships will be created, and a new chapter for these teens will begin.

* * *

 **[Beginning of Episode]**

It was an eventful day at the city of Snakewater, a city located near the Snake River.

Two sports events were played back to back in a single day, and when those two events are finished, an once hidden island rose from the ground. Babylon Garden.

Several people have gone to the island, chasing after the thief who stole the Babylonian Lock, a blue cube that is said to unlock the way to Babylon Garden. Also to investigate the island after all those years.

Rainbow Dash watched as her friends flew off towards Babylon Garden. Her hoverboard, destroyed in the final stretch of the previous race, lay in pieces at her feet. A tear went down her face. How is she supposed to get to Babylon Garden without her board? An airport is too far away from this location for her to reach it in time. There must be another way to get to the island and regroup with her friends...

"Hey! Rainbow!" someone called from behind her.

"Huh? Rainbow replied, looking behind her.

The crowd was too distracted by the rising of Babylon Garden that none of them other than several teenagers even bothered to grab a board and go up there. Their attention soon returned to the ground once they spotted a surprise. A blue boy with spiky blue hair. The same one who pushed his team into victory. Some muttering can be hard among the crowd.

"What?" one of them gasped. "They knew each other?"

"That's...that's the same guy who ended the game with a comeback!" another said. "Could he be..."

A teammate of the boy stood up to verify. "That's no ordinary boy," he said. "That's..."

Rainbow recognized the boy. "Sonic?" she gasped in surprise.

Sonic went up to Rainbow riding a board while carrying a board.

"Didn't expect me to be here, now did you?" Sonic asks. "Now here! Take it!" He hands over the board he was carrying.

Rainbow took the board and inspects it. It's the exact same model as her previous board, like a rental board. She looks at Sonic, having a loss for words. "Wh...where did you..." she gasps out. "Where did you get this?"

"Forget asking!" Sonic replies. "We'd better get to that island in the distance!"

Rainbow looks back at Babylon Garden. All she could think about are three things. Her friends, her rivals, and that thief. Caballeron...

"You're right," Rainbow admitted. "Let's get going!"

Rainbow hopped on her new board and rode it off into Babylon Garden, with Sonic following right behind her.

Several members of the crowd cheers as the two young athletes were reunited after weeks of separation. They cheered for not only them, but also their friends.

* * *

Lightning Dust, Sugarcoat, and Sunny Flare have all arrived at Babylon Garden. The three of them hopped off their boards. Lightning is the girl with orange hair, Sugarcoat is girl with blue-gray hair tied in two ponytails, and Sunny is the girl with relatively short mulberry hair and raspberry streaks.

Jet, Wave, and Storm also arrived, hopping off their boards as well. Jet is the green boy, Wave is the purple girl with a white bandanna, and Storm is the bug muscular boy in gray.

"We have company here, girls," Sunny announces.

"Hey!" Lightning began, stepping up to Jet. "What is your business here?"

Jet grins at Lightning. "Well, we are the Babylonians here in our ancestor's home!" he answers.

Sugarcoat gives a good look at the trio who proclaims that they are the Babylonians. "You don't look like you came from Babylon," she said. "You look like some lousy modern gang who claims that they are from Babylon."

Jet is shocked by this. "What?" he shrieks. "Are you implying that we are not Babylonians simply because of how we dress? These ancient clothing are so outdated. I just wanted to wear something that's fitting to this time!"

Jet continues to berate the three girls as the others arrive on Babylon Garden. Meanwhile, two teams have arrived on the island.

One team consisted of a browned skin muscular boy in red hair, a gray boy in a gray suit, a green boy in an orange vest, a boy in yellow, a girl in a red dress, and a boy with purple hair and a lock of yellow hair. Respectively, they are Knuckles, Silver, Manic, Miles, Amy, and Espio. Collectively, they are known as Team Sonic, name after their leader and founder, Sonic.

The team set their board aside in a safe place. They are currently in what seems to be a abandoned residential section.

"I'm surprised that the ground isn't littered with rocks," Manic commented as he looks around. "For a island that is buried in the ground, there must be piles of those things laying around."

"Quiet, Manic," Knuckles whispers. "I think I hear something. It's coming from that corner of the wall."

Knuckles and the others approached the sound and they cling on to the wall. They made small steps as they approached the sound.

Meanwhile, on another side of the houses, there are several people in the area. Four girls and a boy. There's the cowgirl, a girl with light pink hair, a girl with brilliant pink hair, a girl with wavy purple hair, and boy with electric blue hair styled in a Mohawk. Respectively, they are Applejack, Fluttershy, Pinkie, Rarity, and Thunder. The boy is known as Thunderlane, but he is often referred to as simply Thunder. Together, they are known as The Rainbooms, named after the leader and founder, Rainbow Dash.

Applejack hears a noise in the air, presumably in the village. "What was that?" she asks.

Fluttershy peeped as she heard the noise. She clings on to nearby Pinkie in the arm.

Thunder left the area and approached the main building at the center of the island, looking at his detector that he made to search for anomalies in the area.

Applejack hears several soft footsteps in the air. She turns to the direction of the sound, a nearby abandoned house. "Wait a second..." she ponders. Then she walks toward the house.

"Please..." Fluttershy hoped. "Be safe out there..."

Applejack approached the wall and leans onto it. She steps forward into the corner, approaching the source of the sound, Once she reaches the corner, she turns at it, only to bump herself into the face of...a boy with red hair.

The two grunted as they knocked each other backwards. Applejack's hat flew off her head and landed behind her.

It's official. Team Sonic and The Rainbooms have met each other for the first time, excluding their leaders who have already met before. Also, they are absent.

"Ah!" both Applejack and Knuckles shouted as they pointed at each other.

"What's your business her, cowgirl?" Knuckles asks as he stood up.

"What are you doing here, native?" Applejack asks back as she stands up.

"I'm just here to investigate the floating island," Knuckles answers.

"Well, I'm here to chase after someone who stole something," Applejack answers. She grew a suspicious look as she stared at Knuckles. "You don't happen to work for that thief, didn't you?"

Knuckles as shocked by this question. "Wh-No I'm not!" he shouts back. "I swear! I'm not working for him!"

Applejack leans closer to Knuckles. "Oh yeah?" she asks. "We'll you're just going to have to prove it to me." She then pulls out a clamshell device the size of her hand out of her pockets. She then calls out to the other three girls. "Pinkie! Fluttershy! Rarity! Over here!"

Pinkie and Rarity looked at each other for a moment before deciding to join Applejack. Fluttershy, on the other hand, decided to take a few steps back before running away.

"Urg..." Applejack groans. "Of course this happens..."

Rarity and Pinkie step up to Applejack and pulls out similar devices out of their pockets. They then placed it next to their ear as they pressed on a button.

"Magical Power," the girls said. Then, they push it forward, right in front of their chests. "Friendship Power!"

The device glows as the girls held it between their hands and positioned it at their waist. Then, they opened the decide revealing a glowing interior. Then, they posit it forward, releasing a glowing orb that spins at their feet, creating a suit that encompasses their body. The suit stops at the neck line where the orb hovers in front of their faces before disappearing, putting on the helmet of their suit.

The three members of the Rainbooms have transformed into the Equinger. Rarity turned into the blue ranger, Applejack the yellow ranger, and Pinkie the you-know-what-color ranger.

Knuckles looked a the girls in the suits. "So, you're rangers too?" he asks. "Well then. You're not the only rangers here on this island." He then reaches out behind the house and pulls out Silver and Manic. The two fell to the ground as they were yanked off. "Let's have a battle." Then he notices that someone other than Sonic is absent. "Hey, where did Miles go?"

Miles, Espio, and Amy all hid behind the house, away from where the battle is taking place.

"Ahh, forget it," Knuckles decided. "We'll have a three on three battle here. Let's do it, boys!"

"You don't have to yank us out of there," Silver said as he got up.

"Try to pull off something a little funny, are you?" Manic asks as he got up.

The three boys got up to their feet and gets ready to fight. They pull out a strange looking device and places it on their wrist. Then, they pull out a colored ring out of their pockets.

"Ring Power, activated!" the boys said as they placed their ring on their wrist device. Then they pressed their thumbs on the rings. "Let's spin it up!"

The rings spun in place, glowing in their respective color as they continued. The boys then presented their rings forward, and the ring grew to the size of them. The giant ring then passes through them, putting on their ranger suit aside from the head which remains uncovered. Then, the rings appeared in front of their heads and disappeared, creating their helmets and completing their suit.

The Ringrangers are now in action. Knuckles became the pink ranger, Manic the green ranger, and Silver the blue ranger.

Applejack, however, laughed at the color choices. "Hahahahaha!" she laughed, pointing at Knuckles' ranger suit. "Seriously? Pink? You have that as your ranger color? That's so hilarious!" She continued on laughing.

Rarity takes a look at the rangers suit, both her own team and the rival team. "I'm not sure whose fashion sense is much worse," she commented. "Us...or them."

"Hey!" Pinkie shouted at Knuckles. "I thought pink was reserved for girls!"

Knuckles growled at the girls for mocking him. "You dare make fun of me?" he asks. "You'll pay for this!" He then leaps forward at the girls.

Applejack stopped laughing and jumped to the side, avoiding Knuckles' attack. She then responds by attempting to kick him. Knuckles reacts by crouching below the swinging leg, before spring up and continuing to spar with Applejack.

Meanwhile, Silver and Rarity are fighting each other, both with bows and arrows.

Rarity releases an arrow with grace, sending it towards Silver. Silver dodges it and grabs the arrow in the air. He places it in his bow.

"Thanks for the arrow you imposter," Silver taunts. He then launches the arrow back towards Rarity.

Rarity returns the favor by grabbing the arrow as it travels in the air. She places it in her bow. "Teehee. You gave my arrow back!" she said. She fired the arrow back at him, where he grabs it again and fires it towards her. She catches it again and fires it back at Silver. The arrow exchanged hands several times throughout the fight, and the two of them can't seem to hit each other.

Manic and Pinkie are fighting each other in...who knows how to describe it.

Eventually, Silver gets tired of having the arrow swap hands each time they fired it off. Frustrated, he decides to switch it up and targeted one of the other rivals. He points hi bow at where Applejack and Knuckles are brawling and fired it towards that direction.

"Applejack, watch out!' Rarity warns.

The arrow passed right in between Applejack and Knuckles. The two let each other go and stepped back as the arrow flies in front of their chests and into the ground besides them.

Knuckles looked at Silver. "Silver! Watch where you aim that bow of yours!" he yells. "You nearly hit me at that arrow!"

Applejack ran towards the arrow and picks it up. She then turns toward Rarity. "Here, have your stupid arrow back, Rarity," she said as she throws it at Rarity.

Rarity shrieks as the arrow nearly hit her and lands on the ground next to her. "Ahh!" she screams. "Applejack! Watch where you throw that! You nearly hit me!" She turns around only to catch Silver trying to get the arrow. "Hey! Hands off my arrow!" She lunges at the arrow and grabs it. The two then went into a tug-of-war over the arrow as they pulls the arrow away from each other.

Back behind the house, Miles, Espio, and Amy watched as the fight continues.

"Urg," Miles groans. "Why does this have to happen every time two ranger teams encounter each other?" he asks.

"I don't know," Amy answers. "Might be their nature to fight whoever is not a normal civilian."

"Stupid rangers," Espio mutters. "When will they learn to get along with each other?"

Miles groans. "I wish Sonic were here..." he said.

Meanwhile, Fluttershy is hiding behind a fence watching the fight go on between her friends. She huddles behind the fence, whimpering over the fight.

"Oh Rainbow..." she said. "When will you come here?"

* * *

Somewhere on Babylon Garden, Sonic and Rainbow arrived by hoverboard. They landed in the middle of what seems to be a park.

Rainbow looks around the area, looking for someone. "Dr. Caballeron must be around here somewhere..." she said.

Sonic looks at Rainbow in confusion. "Who's this Dr. Caballeron?" he asks. "Is it someone that you knew?"

Rainbow shakes it off. "Never mind," she answers. "For now, our first priority is to look for our friends. They must be around here somewhere." She walks around the area looking for them. Suddenly, she hears what appears to be their grunts. And its coming from that village in the distance. "Hey! They might be over there!" She ran towards the village.

Sonic turns around only to find that Rainbow is leaving without him. "Hey, Rainbow!" he yells, running after her. "Wait for me!"

* * *

The fight continues between the six rangers. Manic and Pinkie are attempting to outsmart each other, Applejack and Knuckles are still brawling, and Silver and Rarity are still fighting over an arrow.

Silver opened his eyes and took a look at the bow Rarity is holding. His eyes widen as he saw the familiar shape and design. "Wait a second..." he said. "Is that...Is that the boy that I created?"

"What?" Rarity asks.

The arrows snaps in half, sending both of them falling down.

Rarity got up and looked at her half of the arrow. "My arrow broke?" she gasps. "Oh, this is the worst possible thing! I can't have a broken arrow! It's unusable now!" She cries over a broken arrow.

Silver got up and stepped forward at Rarity.

Rarity notices this and scoots back, holding her hand out towards him. "Stay away!" she cries. "I don't want to get hurt by you!"

"No, I'm not going to hurt you," Silver replies. He points to Rarity's bow. "I just wanted to point out something."

Rarity turned a little bit more directly at Silver. "What?" she asks.

Silver went down to his knees. He points at Rarity's bow. "See that bow?" he asks. Rarity takes a look at her bow, holding it with both hands. "That's one of my creations. I was commissioned to create a bow a while ago. The commissioner said to create one for...someone. But it turns out the someone mentioned in the letter was you."

Rarity was in tears. "You...you did this?" she asks. "For...me?"

Silver nodded, smiling in his helmet.

"Thank you!" Rarity said, leaping forward and hugging Silver. Both of them transformed back into civilian mode. She gave Silver a tight hug. "You are the most generous stranger I've ever seen in my life!"

"Okay...okay," Silver said, lifting himself up. "Enough with the hugs."

Suddenly, Sonic and Rainbow arrived at the scene. They start to notice the fight that was going on.

"Uh..." Sonic said. "What is going on here?"

Rainbow stepped a little bit deeper into the village. "Hey!" she shouted. "All of you! Enough with the fighting!"

Applejack, Knuckles, Manic, and Pinkie all stopped what they're doing. They transformed back into civilian mode as they looked at Sonic and Rainbow. The rest of the team then exited their hiding places as they looked at them.

"Rainbow?" Fluttershy said as she peeks over the fence.

"What? Sonic?" Espio gasps.

"What? Sonic is with another girl?" Amy gasps, paying more attention to Rainbow. "How dare he-" She is then grabbed by Espio before she could run and pulls out her hammer. She struggles in his grasp. "Hey! Let go of me!"

Espio refuses to let go unless Amy calmed down.

Miles smiles at the sight of Sonic. "I knew that we would eventually come," he said.

"Now tell me, my friends," Rainbow began. "Why are you fighting?"

Applejack went up to Rainbow, forcing her to lean back. "Well, some gosh darn strangers happen to come in here at the same time as us," Applejack answers. "I swear they might be working for those that stole that cube." She then takes a look at Sonic, who looks familiar to her. "Hey, wait a minute...are you...that kickball player who got hit in the head by a ball and then recovered from that injury."

"Yep!" Sonic answers. "That's me, alright!"

"...Okay..." Applejack replies.

The rest of the team came up to Sonic and Rainbow, aside from Amy and Espio.

"Hey, I have an idea," Rarity said. "Why don't we become allies?"

Applejack turns around to look at Rarity. "What?" she responds. "Are you crazy? Us, becoming allies with a whole bunch of strangers?"

"Whoa! Calm down there," Rainbow said, putting her hands out in front of her. "First off, we're not strangers. I've met with Sonic before, and you've saw his performance at the big game. Isn't that right?" She then turns to Sonic, whispering to his ear. "You were at the final race of the tournament, did you?"

"Yep. I watched that race all right," Sonic confirms. "I swear I heard your voice when I was knocked out."

"Oh really?" Rainbow replies. "Oh, you're welcome for that."

"Secondly," Rarity began. "This boy created a bow and gifted it to me!" She brings Silver closer to her. "Even though we're total strangers!"

"Hey, let go of me lady," Silver tells Rarity.

Applejack looks at the two pairs, swapping between them every second. "Okay," she decides. "Guess we're not total strangers after all..."

They then heard someone scream from somewhere in the village. They looked towards the source of the scream and found that it was Amy, with her hammer pulled all the way back. Espio appears to be knocked out, judging by his appearance. Amy then leaps high into the air, ready to slam her hammer down.

"You dare hang out with another girl?" Amy screams. "I won't forgive you for this!"

Sonic and Rainbow jumped out of the way of Amy's hammer. But before she could land, she is hit in the face by Knuckles' raised fist. She is subsequently knocked down into the ground, dropping her hammer besides her.

The teams looked at the unconscious Amy.

"Don't mind her, new allies," Sonic tells everyone. "She gets into this rather frequently."

* * *

Somewhere on the island, Thunder sneaks around holding his detector. It is detecting a presence nearby. He makes his way into the front of the building, where the six rivals are busy arguing.

The front doors are being shook by a mysterious presence inside.

"Your school never wins at this country's yearly games," Lightning said. "Every single year, you're always placed at the very bottom.'

Jet takes offence into this. "What?" he shouts. "How can we lose so horribly to your school? We were evenly matched against Emerald High last time I checked."

"Face it Jet," Sugarcoat says. "Your school is absolutely horrible at picking students to participate. They're always the incompetent ones who keep on joining."

Jet, Wave, and Storm all gasp at this. "What?" Wave gasps. "Are you saying that my school, Diamond Secondary, has trouble telling the difference between a competent student and an incompetent one? Wh...none of the staff ever told me that!"

"That's what you get if you don't do a little research before coming in," Sunny told Jet and his friends.

Storm stomps forward, looking like he's getting ready for a fight. "You want a piece of us?" he asks. "I'll show you what my school's wrestling team can do!"

The six students get into a fight, each trying to beat the other until they are no longer able to fight. From the bushes, a man in a tan tattered shirt comes out, holding the blue cube that is the Babylonian Lock. Dr. Caballeron has arrived. He sees an opportunity, grinning at the fighting teens.

"Ha ha," he laughs. "These foolish teens. They won't see this coming when they are fighting. But for now, it's time for me to unlock that front door and uncover the treasure of Babylon!" He then hops out of the bushes and approaches the front doors of the central building.

Thunder hides behind a wall as Dr. Caballeron approaches.

"Hahaha!" Dr. Caballeron laughs. "At long last, the treasure of Babylon! It's mine!"

The Babylonian Lock glows, activating the doors.

Thunder's detector blinks very rapidly, warning of a very dangerous monster. He looks up from the display. "Uh oh..." he mutters.

The doors creek open just a tiny bit, and then they explode, sending a gust of wind out of the building.

The fight between the six rivals is cut short as they cling on to the ground, wind blowing on their bodies hard. When the wind died down, they look up and saw something that was trapped inside the building.

"Wh..." Jet gasped as he saw the monster. "What is that thing? I've never seen anything like it in ancient Babylonian text."

The monster is a giant towering over the visitors. It looks humans, but it has vaguely bird-like features such as feather. It is broad and muscular, and has lavender skin. For its attire is has a magenta vest, a magenta waist-cloth, and a necklace with three metal pieces.

"I am the Babylon Guardian," the monster introduces himself. "Protector of this city. All intruders who dare step on this land, will be eliminated!"

Jet stood up to confront the Guardian. "I'm not an intruder," he claims. "I am a descendent, visiting the home of my ancestors."

"I said all intruders will be eliminated," the Guardian repeats himself. He raised his hands to charge up an attack. "No matter the origin." He then slams the attack down on the six teens, producing an explosion that knocks them all to the side.

* * *

Somewhere on the island, Team Sonic and The Rainbooms are busy talking to each other, when suddenly, they heard an explosion go off somewhere near the central building.

"What the..." Sonic said. "What is going on?"

It's kind of hard to tell what's going on, due to the buildings that are blocking the way.

"I'm not sure what's happening," Rainbow said. "But whatever it is, we must investigate. Come on, everyone!"

Team Sonic and The Rainbooms all went out after the source of the explosion. Except for Manic, who stopped and turned around to drag Amy to a safe spot. He moves her right next to Espio, who is rubbing an injured spot on his head.

"Watch her carefully, Espio," Manic tells Espio. "We don't want an angry not-a-girlfriend coming in while we're confronting...whatever caused the explosion."

Another explosion is heard somewhere in the distance, in the same direction.

"Okay, I'm moving," Manic decides. Then he makes a run for it after his teammates. "See you later!"

* * *

Dr. Caballeron steps back as the Guardian moves up to him.

"Sp-Spare me please!" Dr. Caballeron begs. "I just wanted the treasure of this island! Nothing else!"

The Guardian looks suspiciously at Dr. Caballeron. "You greedy fool," he said. "Those who seek only treasure will only find sorrow. You are an intruder and this you must be eliminated."

Dr. Caballeron runs away with his life as the two teams step forward to confront the Guardian. The Guardian turns his attention away from the greedy fool and towards the team of teens that dares to confront him.

"There's more intruders?" the Guardian asks. "How come I didn't see you there? No matter. I must eliminate you from this city."

Thunder then makes a run for it towards the village, going past the two teams.

The Guardian turns his attention towards him. He then fires off an beam attack. "You're not getting away with standing near my home!"

The blast impacts right behind Thunder, sending him flying and screaming. His detector flew out of his hands and crashes into the ground. The detector then breaks down upon impact. After getting blasted, he then gets up and continues on towards the village, ignoring his detector.

"That wasn't even my strongest shot," the Guardian said. "So, intruders. Are you ready to be wiped off the map?"

"We are ready to be wiped out," Rainbow answers. "But not without a fight."

This makes the Guardian interested. "Ohh! You're challenging me to a fight," he said. "Very well. Let's see what you're made off."

"I've got to warn you," Sonic said as he and the other nine teens pulls out their morphers. "This is going to be a tough fight."

"Guys, ready?" Miles asks.

"Ready!" the other teens replies, getting ready to power up.

The Rainbooms first did their morphing sequence. "Magical Power, Friendship Power!" the five girls yell out as they pressed on a button.

The Rainbooms transformed into their ranger mode, the Equingers with a press of a button and the opening of their morpher.

Next, it was Team Sonic's turn to transform. "Ring Power, activated!" the five boys shouted with a spin of their ring.

Team Sonic transformed into their ranger mode, the Ringrangers, with a spin of their ring.

"Alright everyone!" Sonic said. "Time to show that guardian who he's dealing with!"

And then the fight begins.

Sonic and Rainbow ran up to the Guardian and smack him up with their bats. Between hits, the two commented on their weapon sense.

"So, you use bats too?" Sonic asks before sidestepping away from an arm slam.

Rainbow spins her bat in her hand. "Feels like I'm an exact clone of you," she commented. "We're blue, our suits are red, we are the leaders of our respective teams, and we use bats. Who's the original and who is the clone...I have no idea."

Sonic jumps out of the way of a beam attack, performing a backflip as he gracefully soars into the air. "Maybe you should've anticipated that," he taunts.

The Guardian growls at Sonic until he finds himself pelted with arrows. He turns to where the arrows came from and found that Silver is firing them.

Silver continues to fire at the Guardian, until he reaches his quiver and find that there are no arrows remaining. "Huh?" he said, trying to reach in his quiver. "I ran out of arrows? Oh no! How am I supposed to attack now?"

"Here, darling!" Rarity said, holding some arrows from her quiver. "I'll let you have these. I have plenty of arrows in stock, so I do not have to worry." She hands Silver some of her arrows.

"Thanks," Silver replies. "I really should've packed a few more arrows. Now, let's fight this beast!"

The Guardian continues to find himself pelted with attacks, from down at his bottom to all around his body. He doesn't seem to be bothered with those. No visible damage can be seen on the surface.

"Hey, bully," Fluttershy said from below. "Look over here. This is what you get for threatening to wipe us off!"

"Oh yeah?" the Guardian asks. "And what's that?"

Fluttershy closes her eyes and glared at the Guardian with a menacing look. Problem is, her visor is covering her face, so the move was ineffective.

"What's that supposed to be?" the Guardian asks. "Trying to defeat me with that look? Ha! Don't make me laugh!' He then proceeds to fire off a beam right at Fluttershy, knocking her out.

"Fluttershy!" Rainbow screams.

"Eh, she useless anyway," Applejack said. "She doesn't even have any fighting abilities." She is then nearly slammed by the palm of the Guardian's hand.

The remaining nine rangers continued to fight the Guardian. Despite their strength in numbers, they were dealing no damage to the Guardian. The fight went on for a while, so long that they're started to get exhausted.

"How long are we fighting this beast?" Sonic asks, breathing heavily from exhaustion.

"About 22 minutes!" Miles answers.

"Nearly half an hour?" Rainbow asks. "We've been morphed for nearly that long? Goes, I wonder if we're reaching the peak time in which our ranger powers are active..."

The fight continued on, even if the fight seems fruitless. They persisted, even if they are pushing their suits to their limits. The fight would go smoothly for several minutes straight, until someone fell.

Knuckles was the first ranger to be defeated, having been launched into the air by slam of the fist. Knuckles crashed down to the ground, knocked out of his ranger state. "No!" Sonic yelled to his fallen friend.

Applejack ran up to Knuckles to check on him. "Knuckles! Are you alright?" she asked as she shook him.

"Ha ha ha!" the Guardian laughed. "You thought that you could succeed in this team up. But you thought wrong! This is not your usual team up. I'm going to turn this into the most disastrous team up between two ranger teams in ranger history!"

Rainbow growled at the monster. "Oh. We'll see," she said. "We'll see about that." Then, she notices that Applejack was about to get hit. "Applejack! Watch out!"

Applejack turned to her side and was greeted with a slap to the face by a hand. She is knocked into the air and landed shortly afterwards, being knocked back into civilian mode.

"Oh no!" Rainbow gasps. "Not her too!"

Manic and Pinkie were the next one to get knocked out, as Pinkie was being flung into the air and landed right on top of Manic. He was trying to catch her, though. Its just that he didn't have the strength to do so.

"Oh my goodness!" Miles gasps. "We are losing allies left and right!"

Silver and Rarity finally ran out of arrows, and when they do, the Guardian responded by pelting them with all of the arrows they launched at him. The two were quickly defeated and got knocked out of ranger form.

"Urg!" Sonic grunted. "We are losing this and fast! And we're not even at the half hour mark!"

Miles is quickly defeated by a beam attack. The beam dissipated leaving him knocked back into civilian form.

"Oh my goodness!" Fluttershy gasped. She ran towards Miles.

"Fluttershy! Watch out!" Rainbow warns.

Fluttershy is subsequently crushed under the Guardian's weight. The Guardian lifted himself up, leaving her laying on the ground having been knocked back into civilian form.

"No!" Rainbow cried.

"Arrrg! What are we going to do now?" Sonic asks.

"Now all that's left are you two," the Guardian said, floating up to be above them. "Now, it's time for you to be eliminated!" He charges up and attack, ready to fire it down upon the two of them.

Sonic and Rainbow brace themselves for the attack, as the situation is hopeless now. There is no possible way that they can end this right now.

Suddenly, the two rangers reverted back into civilian mode. They were surprised by this. Their ranger timer is up, having been morphed for 30 minutes straight.

The Guardian looks down at them. "Oh, it seems like your timer has expired," he observes. "Well then, no matter. Prepare to be destroyed!" He then flings the attack towards them, creating an explosion that knocks them out. "

Ha ha ha!" The monster laughed again. "Even with another ranger team by your side, you still cannot defeat me! Now, I'm going to eliminate all of you and-"

The rangers got up suddenly.

"Well, that was a disaster," Sonic commented. "Time to bail out of this place!"

The rangers got up and made a mad dash towards the village.

"No! Wait! Come back!" the Guardian screams, reaching out to them. "I'm not done with you yet!"

The two teams reached the village and run to their boards.

"Forget this place!" Rainbow announces. "We're leaving! And it's all because of that monster which defeated us."

"What?" Thunder gasps.

"Are you saying-" Amy began.

"Get out of here, everyone!" Sonic screams.

The rangers grabbed their boards and hightail it out of here. They speed off into the nearby land city, leaving Babylon Garden in their wake.

* * *

The other teens catch the fight that's been going on and realizes that the Guardian is much more powerful than they think.

"Well, we're out of this place!" Jet announces. "Let's get out of here before our butts get kicked!"

The six teens hightail it out of Babylon Garden on their boards.

The Guardian turns around only to catch six more escaping teens. "No! Wait!" he cries. "Why are you leaving? Come back!"

Out in the helicopter, two adventurers are having second thoughts about landing on Babylon Garden.

"Well, we saw ten teens get defeated by that guy," Miss Yearling said. "We're not getting near that."

"Forget stopping our former employer from getting the treasure," Cliff suggest. "We're leaving this place!"

"On it," Miss Yearling said. And then she flew the helicopter out of the island.

Meanwhile, Dr. Caballeron approaches what appears to be the treasure of Babylon Garden. A vase with a purple trail coming out of it.

"Ooh!" he said. "So that's the treasure of Babylon!" He this walks up to it. "Ahh, I might be able to sell this for a huge profit," he said. "Now, to find out how to get rid of that nasty looking trail." He searches the table the vase is seated on before finding what appears to be a lid. "Hmm, this will work." He picks it up and places it on top of the vase.

Suddenly, the Guardian finds himself disappearing. "What the-" he gasps as he looks at himself. "What is going on? Who...who dares to seal up the vessel I'm contained in?" Then, he felt himself getting sucked in. He grasps onto the ground as he is getting sucked in. "No..." he said, getting closer to the vase he's sealed in. "No...Noooo!"

The Guardian screams as he was getting sucked into the vase as it was being sealed up. The vase shook as the Guardian was sealed inside it.

"Whoa!" Dr. Caballeron said, releasing the vase. "What is that thing that came into this treasure? Was it...the monster of the island?" He looks around, checking to see if there's no one around him. After seeing that there was no one else but him, he picks up the vase. "Well, I think I found myself a very powerful weapon." He then laughs with an evil tone, knowing that he hosted the grand prix for something.

* * *

The rangers soon found themselves staring at the realm of the monster that defeated them.

Silver pounded on the ground. "Oh, if only I could go back in time and prevent all of this from happening!"

"Give up Silver!" Sonic yelled. "There was no way we could've win against that monster. Even if you gave out past selves the information, we would still lose because...no matter how hard we tried, we still couldn't make a dent in that guy's health. It's...hopeless!"

"Cheer up, brother," Manic said. "It's only a loss."

This caused Rainbow to freak out. "Only a loss?" she shrieked. "Yeah right. What if that guy had the power to destroy the world? If we failed against that guy, then we failed the world!"

Rarity checked to see if her morpher is working. Unfortunately, she found a few cracks in the device. "Oh my...what is this?" she said. She pressed on the button again. Nothing happened. This shocks Rarity. "Umm, guys, mind if you checked your morphers cause mine is not working."

The other rangers pull out their morphers and do their regular ranger activation sequence. To their horror, nothing happens.

"What the-" Rainbow said, tapping on the button several times. "Why is mine not working?"

Sonic spun his ring on his morpher. "Mine's not working either," he said. "Anyone else?"

The others checked their morphers to see if they are working. None of them do.

"Mine's not working!' Pinkie complained.

"So is mine!" Miles added.

"My ring can't spin," Knuckles said. "Could it be...?"

Rarity collapsed to the ground. "NOOO!" she screams. "This can't be happening! Us, no longer able to get into ranger mode. This is a complete disaster!"

"That's because it is, Rarity," Rainbow responds, looking up at Babylon Garden. "We've failed our mission as rangers."

"And because of that failure," Sonic said, continuing to spin his ring to verify that his morpher is broken, "we are no longer rangers."

The era of the Ringrangers and the Equingers has ended. Team Sonic and The Rainbooms are no longer rangers and as such, will no longer be able to respond to any threat they come across. Hopefully, there will be none that will attack them, but until that moment they'll have to search for a new power.

 **[End of Episode]**

* * *

 **From the Author:**

It's not your typical ranger team up episode.

Rather than resolve their issues and defeat the monsters together, the two teams did the first part successfully but failed to defeat a monster. In fact, they failed so much that they are demoted from being rangers. Now, they are just regular teens living in the world, except with a lot of baggage they're left to lug around.

Thanks a lot Dr. Caballeron. Not only did you indirectly lead to the defeat of both the Ringrangers and the Equingers, steal an item that you gave to them, and to top it all off you got away with those atrocities. Let's hope that justice will be served.

I was planning to do a few more episodes for both series, but then I got bored and forgo these episode ideas.

* * *

Written by TheAPPstore

Sonic the Hedgehog characters, property of Sega

My Little Pony characters, property of Hasbro

Series inspired by Super Sentai/Power Rangers by Toei Company/Saban Brands


	3. After the Fight

**Episode 3**

 **"After the Fight"**

* * *

After their ranger days are over, the members of the two teams went back to their homes and normal lives. However, the events have seriously left a scar on their history. One that will not leave them for a very, very long time.

Mysteriously, the two leaders are summoned by their teachers and are tasked with finding something that will unlock the next chapter in their lives.

* * *

 **[Beginning of Episode]**

It was a long an eventful day...

In one single day, a train was attacked by some strange beast on route to their destination, and then there's a sports match going on between two rival schools. At the destination city of the train that was attacked. At the exact same city, the final race of the first ever grand prix featuring the newly released hoverboards has taken place, where an island was revealed after the race was over. Then, the two teams, Team Sonic and the Rainbooms, have a full encounter with each other. Every single member of both teams have finally met each other.

However, things do not turned out quite pretty. The guardian of the island has showed up and threatened to wipe them out of the island. These ten teens transformed into their ranger form and try to fight it, but it proved too much for them to handle and they were defeated. Then, they got out of the island seeing as it was too hostile for them to live on.

After that, it was revealed that their morphers have been broken from the fight. These two teams were no longer rangers.

Once all of that is over, everyone returned home without a goodbye to each other. Not even their new friends. They were too heartbroken to even bother, and it was a long train ride back home.

Rainbow arrived at her home, slowly taking steps towards the front door. Breathing heavily in sadness, she knocked on the door.

Her mother answered. "Hi honey!" she greeted cheerfully. "Did you enjoy that trip over the mountains and into the desert? Did you have fun there?"

Rainbow stared at her mothered and took a heavy sigh. She entered her home without saying a word.

"What? Hey, Rainbow!" Rainbow's mother said as she watched her walk past her. Rainbow then took the stairs. "Where are you going? What's with the long face? Why do you look so sad?"

Rainbow gave up, sighing as she turned her head back. "Hate to say it, mother," she said, "but I'm no longer a ranger."

Rainbow's mother gasped in shock. "Why?" she asked.

"Wait, she's no longer a what?" her father gasped, rushing towards the stairs.

Rainbow tilted her head down, deeply shuttered by the events that happened only a few hours ago. "My butt was kicked so hard that my morpher broke," she told her parents. She reaches into her pocket and pulls out her cracked Equine Morpher. "I'll explain it the next morning but until then, please leave me alone. I need some time to cool down."

Rainbow then continue to climb the stairs and walked to her room. There, she collapsed on her bed, looking up to the ceiling. A heavy gasp of air comes in every second.

She then turns to the photo that is siting by her bedside. She picks it up to look at it. It depicts her, the girl with the prismatic hair, being next to a boy in spiky blue hair. It was taken at the day when they first met each other.

A tear went down her eye as she stared into the photo. "Sonic..." she muttered.

* * *

"Man, is this day such a train wreck!" Manic said as he and Sonic walked home. Manic is feeling chill, while Sonic's not really feeling the moment. "All those events packed into a single day and we ended it off with this! A huge loss! Man, the amount of things that can happen in a single day is mind blowing. So much that we need several chapters to even contain the events! I've heard of this one book that is like several hundred pages long and the events all took place in a single day. And it is really wordy! It's like that-"

Sonic looked at his brother with disapproval. "Manic, enough of the rambling," he told him. "You're adding insult to injury."

"Sorry, I couldn't resist," Manic replied.

After what seemed like forever, the two boys are finally home. Manic ran up to the front door ahead of Sonic.

"We're back here at home after what seems like forever," Manic said. "Just can't believe all of that happened today." Manic then knocked on the door just as Sonic was getting on the steps.

Aleena, the boy's mother, answered the door. "Sonic! Manic!" she said, excited about their arrival. "You're back! How was the game sweetie?"

Sonic stared into his mother's eyes with a grumpy look.

"Uh, why are you so grumpy Sonic?" Aleena asks.

"I can explain later," Sonic answers. "For now, I think I need a rest." He stretches his arms out and takes in a deep breath. "All that craziness is a bit much for me to handle." He then went straight for the stairs.

"Wait! Sonic!" Aleena calls, pointing to the dining room. "What about dinner?"

"Not hungry!" they heard Sonic said before they heard the sound of a door closing.

Aleena and Manic looked at each other in confusion. "You think he lost his appetite?" Aleena asks.

Sonic collapsed onto his bed, taking in deep breaths as he catches his air. It was a long and tiring day, and all of that effort just for something to be taken away from him. His ranger powers. It was infuriating to him. All that build-up just for that moment, its frustrating.

Then, he looks off to the side on his shelf and notices a photo that is sitting there. He walks up to it and picks it up, staring into the photo. Depicted in the photo is him, the boy with the spiky blue hair, and a girl with prismatic hair. This was taken at the moment when he and that friend met each other for the first time.

A single tear went down his eyes. "Rainbow..." he muttered.

* * *

Dmitri was the butler of Silver's family, acting like a father figure whenever Silver's parents are absent. Which is a lot of the time. He happily greeted him as he answered the door for him.

"Hey there, Silver," Dmitri said in pride. "Your parents are still gone today. Who knows when they'll come back. Say, how was you day?"

One look at Silver's face shows him the answer. "Horrible," he answered.

"What?" Dmitri responded. "Why horrible?"

Silver stepped into his home, still looking sad. He turns back to Dmitri after taking a few steps. "My team was utterly destroyed," he answered. "I'm afraid to say it but...I'm no longer a ranger."

"What? You're no longer a ranger?" Dmitri asked in disbelief. "After several months of being one? Wha-what happened? Did you retire or-"

Silver suddenly turned angry and went up to Dmitri's face. "Dmitri!" she shouted. "Are your ears even working? Let me say it again. My. Team. Was. Utterly. Destroyed."

Dmitri reeled back in shock. "Your ranger powers are gone because they got destroyed?" he replies. "Well, that's just bad. Say, how is your equipment doing?"

Silver reaches into his pocket, expecting to pull out a still functioning bow. What he didn't expect was for said bow to be broken, with one part hanging by the drawstring. "Aww man, he broke this as well?" he whined. "And I worked so hard on it! Urg!" He slams his bow into the ground and walks away, further damaging it. "I'd better make a new one." He stomps up the stairs and into his room.

"Wait! Silver!" Dmitri said, reaching out to him. "What about-"

"First thing next morning," Silver decided. "I need some rest to heal off those wounds."

* * *

"Hey Rarity!" Sweetie Belle, Rarity's little sister, greeted as she answered the door. "I-" She opened her eyes only to find that Rarity's not acting like herself. "Uh...something the matter?"

Rarity clutched her first as she beings to tear up, mascara drenching her face. "My life is ruined!" she cried. She then collapsed on a nearby seat, bawling like crazy. "All these awesome powers, gone! My clothing, teared up! And my bow..." She reaches into her pocket and pulls out the bow that is crafted by Silver. "IT'S UTTERLY BROKEN!" she cried as she watches it droop before her eyes, the bow cracked in half.

* * *

Blossom "Apple Bloom" Apple is lounging at the top floor of the family barn, waiting for her sister to come back as the sun comes down. Then, she spotted someone walking down the path donning a hat. As soon as she saw the person, she gets excited.

"Hey! Look!" Apple Bloom said, pointing out the window, bouncing on the floor. "Applejack is back!"

Macintosh "Mack" Apple enters the door, holding the door open. "What? After all this time?" he said. He ran up to the window.

Apple Bloom took a closer look and notices that something is wrong. "Huh? She looks sad," she observes. "I wonder what's bothering her."

"Uh, Apple Bloom?" Mack said. "I don't think we should poke her right now. She doesn't-"

But Apple Bloom doesn't care about that now. She just wanted to figure out what's going on. "Come on! Let's find out!" she said, carrying Mack by the arm as she ran out the room and down the stairs.

Then, Apple Bloom burst out the front door, with an exhausted Mack right behind her. She ran up to her big sister. "Applejack!" she said. "What's wrong?"

Applejack watched as her little sister ran up to her. "Oh...you're here..." she said, adjusting her hat. "Well it's not something that you should be worrying about, sugarcube. This is my problem. Now leave me alone for a moment. All these events are tiring me up."

She then continued on towards her barn, leaving Apple Bloom behind her and going right past Mack without giving much thought or saying anything.

* * *

The next morning, Principal Celestia is getting ready to start the workday by sitting at her desk.

A knock was heard shortly before the door opened. It is revealed to be Rainbow, who had switched out her red vest into a blue and yellow athletic vest. "Principal Celestia?" she said as she entered the room.

Celestia gazes up to Rainbow as she approaches her office desk. "Hmm? Rainbow?" she asked before looking more directly at her. "What are you doing here this early in the morning?"

"I'm here to show you something that happened last weekend," Rainbow said. "I don't want to show it, but you might understand it better if I did, so here you go." She dumps the devices on Celestia's desk.

Celestia saw the devices and picked them up and inspects them. At first, they look fine, but from another angle, cracks are visible. "What the-?" Celestia gasps, inspecting the devices even further. "Why did you bring these you? These cracks weren't here before, did they?"

"These morphers..." Rainbow tells, letting out a sigh. "They are no longer working. My team can no longer access our ranger mode now."

Celeatia then opened up each of the devices and out drops a crystal, which seems to be unharmed by the battle. "Well, at least the crystals are fine, but there is no way of tapping into their power now," she said, picking them up. "They are now worth nothing other than money." After a bit of impaction, Celeatia makes her decision as she places down the crystals. "Tell you what. I'm taking these crystals to a museum. They are nothing more than displays now. And your morphers? Destroy them. They are nothing more than nonfunctional pieces of technology."

Celestia picked up the crystals and reached for a hidden box under her desk. She opened it up and placed the crystals inside them before closing it again, only to hide the box under her desk.

Rainbow, meanwhile, picked up the morphers and put them in her pockets as she exited Celestia's office. Upon stepping out to the entrance room, she notices that one of her teachers is waiting outside for her. Miss Yearling.

"Rainbow Dash, after the school day is over, come to my classroom," Miss Yearling ordered. "We need to have a talk. It's about that thing that defeated you and destroyed your ranger powers."

Yearling then left Rainbow without saying another word.

Rainbow adjusts her backpack and walks down the hallway, making her way into the first class of the day.

* * *

Sonic places the Ring Braces on the dining table of his house, with everyone in the household watching him do it. He also took out the rings and placed them next to the braces.

Aleena leans down to take a closer look only to find cracks and a bit of exposed machinery. "Uh, they weren't like that when I saw them on your wrists the other day," she said. "What happened?"

"Well..." Sonic began, looking off to the side.

"We found friends of Sonic's new friend," Manic said, telling the important bits. "I know. It's weird. We met them on a floating island that is uncovered after the final race of the air board grand prix ended. We encountered each other and proceeded to beat each other up to see which team is better. Then our leaders showed up and revealed that they've met each other before. All is well and good until the guardian of the island showed up to ruin our days. We tried to confront him, but he proved to be too powerful for even the ten of us to defeat. Then we hopped back into our feet and hightail it out of there via the same mode of transportation in which we arrived. And that's when we discovered that we can no longer morph."

Everyone in the household watched and blinked as Manic said all of that in rapid succession.

"Wow," Chuck, the father, commented. "That sure is a mouthful."

Aleena then turned to Sonic. "Tell me, who is this other team that you boys met?" she asked, curious about what happened yesterday.

Sonic looked off to the side as he let out a sigh. "Well, it might be easier if I showed you one of them," he replied. He then digs into his pockets and pulled out a photo he found sitting in his bedroom. He presented it to the rest of his family. "Here. This is a photo I have of a friend that I met over a month ago."

Manic leaned closer at the photo and recognized one of the faces other than Sonic. "Whoa! I swear I saw someone like that before," he said, shocked by this. "Did...did you met that girl before? I didn't notice!"

"This is Rainbow Dash," Sonic introduces. "She is a student at a school called Canterlot High, located in Canterlot City which is north of us."

Aleena and Chuck leaned closer to get a better look. However, the name of the girl's home city and the school she attended struck to them as familiar. "Hmm...Isn't the principal of that school Celestia Cosmos?"

Sonic lowers the photo as Manic gasped. "What?" he gasped out. "You know the principal of the school Rainbow attends?"

Aleena giggles. "Well, this country of Columbia is a lot more connected than you think at first glance," she said. "We were once a part of a resistance group known as the Freedom Fighters. We used to defend this country of Columbia from an evil mad scientist known as Gerald Robotnik. That's also when I met my husband Chuck here. It might have over 20 years ago, but it felt like it was forever since we met."

Sonic blinked in shock. "So there was a war that happened here in the 1990's?" he asked. "How come I've never heard of that before?"

"You didn't go that far into your history class, didn't you?" Chuck asks.

Suddenly, something came into Aleena's head. "Hey, I have an idea," she said. "Since you and Rainbow happen to know each other and that your teams are similar form what I've heard, why don't allow your teams to merge together? Then you'll be a single team!"

Sonic and Manic gawk out in shock.

"What?" Sonic shouted. "Are you nuts? We operate on different cities a train ride away from each other. How did you expect us to work as a single team?"

"Why don't you try it and see how it works?" Aleena suggested. "Then you'll like the idea of being under a single, unified team, even though you operate in different cities. Come on, see how this works out."

Sonic and Manic then turned to each other.

"You think she might be forcing me and Rainbow together along with the rest of our friends?" Sonic whispered.

"I don't know," Manic replied. "What is her excuse for that?"

As Aleena is packing her stuff, the phone rang up, catching everyone's attention. "Oh! A phone call?" Aleena said. "Let's see who this one is from." She reaches out and answers the phone.

"Hello?" she greeted. Then she waited for a response. "What? Why Sonic? You wanted to talk to him? But why?" A moment of silence occurs as Aleena receives an answer. "Okay then. Understood. I'll make sure that he arrives at your classroom after school. I'll be waiting for him outside. Okay? See you later." She then hangs up the phone.

Sonic is confused by who called Aleena up. "Who is that from?" he asked in curiosity.

"It's Mr. Drake," Aleena answered. "Sonic, he wants you to visit his classroom after school today. He wants to talk to you about something. Probably in private. Understand?"

Sonic nodded in response. "Yes, mother."

"Good," Aleena replies back. Then she picks up her bag, getting ready to head out and start the work day. "Well, we better get going. School is starting in half an hour. Time to pack up, boys."

As Aleena attempts to leave, Manic picks up one of the broken Ring Brace and presented it to her. "But Aleena! What about these things?" he asks. "They're broken now! What are we supposed to do with them?"

"Turn the machines into scrap, if you want," Aleena answers. "They're useless now. What good is a morpher to you if you can't even get into your ranger mode using it? And don't worry about the rings. Chuck will be sending those to a museum. They might be powerful, yes, but without something to channel their power, they have no other use. Now hurry up, boys! We're about to leave!" Aleena then left the house, heading to her workplace.

Sonic and Manic looked at each other and gave a shrug. They then went into their rooms to pick up their stuff. School is starting in about 25 minutes.

* * *

Hours passed and the school day ends with everyone leaving. With the hallways mostly empty, Rainbow walks up to the classroom of Miss Yearling, one of her teachers, and enters it. "Miss Yearling?" she said as she opens the door. "I'm here as you requested."

Miss Yearling looked over from her classroom desk at Rainbow. "Ahh, Rainbow!" she greeted, standing up from her chair and lowering her glasses. "You've arrived. I hope you don't mind arriving back to home a little later than usual. Now, take a seat near my desk. I want to talk to you about something."

Rainbow grabs a chair and moves it closer to Miss Yearling's desk. "Okay, what is it?" she asked as she took a seat.

Miss Yearling looked back at her computer screen. "Cliff and I have done some extensive research on-" she began.

"Hold on," Rainbow interrupted, not recognizing one of the names. "Who's this Cliff?"

"Huh? Oh, sorry," Miss Yearling apologizes as she took off her glasses. "I forgot to search for you after we left the floating island that is Babylon Garden. Remember that place?"

"Oh, yeah," Rainbow recalls, looking away from Miss Yearling. "Right. That's the same place where I lost my ranger powers."

"Right," Miss Yearling confirms. "So...Cliff...Cliff Drake...is a co-worker of mine. He a teacher of your friend's school." Then something struck her. She forgot to sned him a reminder. "Hang on, let me send him a reminder."

Miss Yearling pulls out a strange device that resembles a phone. There is a compass symbol on a gold semi-dome at the bottom of the phone. She speaks to it.

"Hey, Cliff," she whispered. "If Sonic came into your classroom, remember to show your membership card to him. Okay?"

Rainbow took a look a the strange looking device Miss Yearling is holding. "What's that?" she asked, pointing to it.

Miss Yearling glared at Rainbow with disapproval as she closes the device and puts it away. "None of your business," she said. "Okay, so where was I? Oh, right. The monster who defeated you. So, Cliff and I did some extensive research on that guy and found out that he known as the Babylon Guardian.

"He's the lord guardian of Babylon Garden back in the day. It is once thought that he was as mythical as Babylon Garden itself after it was buried underground, until someone uncovered it and its secrets and released the guardian inside. Unfortunately, he could not distinguish between those who are not the descendent of the ancient Babylonians and those who are the children of the Babylonians. This is why, I believe, that he attacked everyone who visited the island."

"So, how can we defeat this Babylon Guardian?" Rainbow asked. "We hit is body and it did no damage to him."

"It's simple, really," Miss Yearling answered. "All you have to do, according to legends, is to break the vase he is contained in."

Rainbow leaned back on her chair at the shock of what is needed to defeat the monster that defeated them. "What?" she shrieked. "That easy? Oh, the stupid-"

"Don't berate yourself for missing that," Miss Yearling told. "Breaking the vase is not as easy as one might think. The vase is durable. Even single punch from the worlds most powerful boxer would not break it. It takes effort to break open the vase, and that is not easy. But, there is another trick into defeating him without doing that arduous task."

"What's that?" Rainbow asked.

"It is said that the Guardian would be released in times of crisis," Miss Yearling said. "When it is not in use, he would be sealed back into his own vase if something is blocking his connection with the vase. He might not be defeated, but at least he would be gone. At least for now."

* * *

The end of the school day arrives and professor Cliff Drake is busy working on some paperwork. The door is then opened and in comes Sonic,

"Ahh, Sonic," he greeted as he looked at him as he entered. "You're here. As expected."

Sonic pulls up a chair and places it in front of Mr. Drake's desk. He takes a seat in it. "What do you want me here for, Mr. Drake?" he asked.

"I-" he began, but then something in his pocketed vibrated. "Hold up. Give me a second." He then pulls out a phone-like device that has a compass symbol on a gold semi-sphere at he bottom. He speaks to it. "Yes?" he answered. Then he hears a message being sent to him. "What? You're telling me to show Sonic my card? Hello? Miss Yearling?"

No response came from his device.

"Who is this Miss Yearling?" Sonic asked, curious about this person.

Mr. Drake closes his device and puts it back into his pocket. "I'm glad that you asked," he said. "Miss Yearling is my co-worker. We both are employees of the organization SGS. Search Guard Successors." He pulls out his membership card and presents it to Sonic. There, under his picture are the letters SGS. The initials of the organization he works for.

"Our goal is to preserve ancient artifacts that are either threatened or are very powerful, so powerful that they must be kept from falling into the wrong hands," he explained what his group does. He then looks off to the side in regret. "Unfortunately, we seem to have failed one mission, just like you and your friends, old and new."

"And what's that?" Sonic asked.

Mr. Drake pinched his nose in disappointment, letting out a sigh. "We failed to stop someone from taking a very precious and potentially dangerous object that is located within Babylon Garden," he explained. Then he leans closer to Sonic, to the point of going at his face. "The vase containing the guardian with in."

"What?" Sonic yelled in shock.

Mr. Cliff leaned back and stood up from his chair. walking around the room as he speaks. "Miss Yearling and I dig a lot into this guardian and what we've found is that that guardian is sealed with in a vase that is usually closed. When the time comes, it is unleased to eliminate any intruders. Or at least, that's what it said according to legend. Now, it seems to want to attack anyone who dares to set foot on the island, regardless if they Babylonian blood in them or not. And while we're leaving, we spotted someone stealing the vase."

"Someone stole the vase?" Sonic said. "But...who is it? Who did that?"

"I don't know," Mr. Drake sighed. "We couldn't identify who the perpetrator is, but based on the colors, it must be our rival." He then turned to Sonic from across the room. "A former co-worker of mine."

Sonic is now really curious. "Who is that person?" he asked.

"That's not your problem, Sonic," Mr. Drake said, pointing at Sonic. "It's my organization's."

Mr. Drake then returned to his desk, sitting down at the chair. He turned towards Sonic. "I think he might be going for the sealing place of the two most notorious enemies of the rangers," he theorizes. "Not from this world, the other one. The main Human World where nearly all the main ranger teams reside in. Or he could be juicing it up, turning it into a fighting machine that is more powerful than it was previously. Whichever the case, I have a task for you to perform just in case, one that may help you and your friends."

Cliff Drake then leaned right on top of Sonic, demanding him to do a task.

"You must find another ranger power as soon as possible," he ordered.

* * *

As Sonic exited Emerald High, he muttered to himself the same four words that he spoke ever since he left the classroom belonging to Cliff Drake.

"Find another ranger power, find another ranger power," he muttered. "How are we supposed to figure that out? Are we stumbling upon this by accident? Are we developing one ourselves? I don't know." He then lets out a sigh as he stopped. "I might have to call my friend to bring this information."

He then pulls out his phone and calls to one of his friends. Miles Prower.

Sonic brings his phone next to his ear. He hears his friend say something. "Hello?" Miles answered the call.

"This is Sonic speaking," Sonic began. "So, one of my teachers, Cliff Drake summoned me to his classroom to talk about some...important pieces of information. He warned me that the monster that defeated us might come back and we have to prepare ourselves by finding another ranger power to use. Or those two notorious villains of the rangers...I don't know."

"What? Find another ranger power?" Miles said, feeling a little bit of shock. "How are we supposed to do that? As far as we know, our former ranger powers are the only ones that we know."

"We might think that's the case," Sonic said, bringing his phone out of his ear. "But the way he said it, the ranger powers that we used to have might not be the only ones around here."

* * *

As the day ends, Sonic has on his bedside the last of the Ring Braces set beside his bed. His own. The rings have been transferred into a museum display and he has sent the remaining Ring Braces to Miles to transform into scrap parts, potentially to be used in another project.

Meanwhile, Rainbow does the same thing, keeping the last of the Equine Morphers next to her bed. Her own. With the crystal that power it removed and transferred into a museum, all that's left of it is the broken shell, some exploded electronics, and a lightning bolt shaped hole where the crystal was stored.

It's been four months since they first got their ranger powers, and now its all taken away from them after a relative short time and so little missions.

 **[End of Episode]**

* * *

 **From the Author:**

With the end of the Ringrangers and the Equiners, its time to break down the team members and why I chose the colors that they wear.

Red-Sonic is the red ranger of the team because he's the leader of the team. Also, he wears a red and white vest initially. Ditto for Rainbow, except that she starts off with a blue and yellow vest before switching to a red and yellow vest.

Blue-Silver is more associated with cyan than blue, but it still counts. As for Rarity, a lot of her outfits in both the main series and the spin-offs are blue. Including her first hero outfit.

Yellow-For both, they're yellow. Even though Applejack doesn't wear predominately yellow...

Green-Manic is green of course, while Fluttershy is closely associated with nature. As nature is closely associated with green, this becomes her ranger color.

Pink-In the classic games, the super form of Knuckles is often colored pink, despite the feminine association of the color. As for Pinkie...well of course she's pink. What else would I choose?

Auxiliary members-If I had to make them the sixth or extra rangers, I would pick purple for Espio, gold for Thunder, and...well forget Amy. We wouldn't want another pink ranger on the team, don't we?

But just because these two teams' ranger days are over, they doesn't mean that their adventures are. Join these friends as they get to know each other a little bit better, setting them on a path that will unlock the next chapter of their lives.

* * *

Written by TheAPPstore

My Little Pony characters/franchise property of Hasbro.

Inspired by Super Sentai, property of Toei Company.


	4. The First Meeting

**Episode 4**

 **"The First Meeting"**

* * *

It's been weeks since they were last defeated, and they have since not seen each other very often. That is, until Rainbow shows up at Sonic's house for a meeting. There, they were given the suggestion that they should merge their teams together into one.

Rainbow is then introduced to the rest of Sonic's friends while Sonic travels up north to better understand Rainbow's friends. Let's just say that the two of them have a little bit of trouble as they get to know each other's teams a little better.

* * *

 **[Beginning of Episode]**

It's been one month since they last met each other. Once month since their trip to Snakewater for both the kickball game and the final race of the grand prix. One month since their ranger powers were taken away from them.

After four months of service, the two ranger teams' careers has been cut short by a monster who is guarding is island they were visiting. Babylon Garden. Since then, they are unable to preform their duties as rangers. Not only that, but Babylon Garden disappeared mysteriously after hanging in the sky for a day. It was a rather bizarre sight to behold for the local residents.

On the plus side, at least the monsters aren't attacking them. Since the day they lost their ranger powers, there has been zero monster attacks of any kind occurring in their home cities, or even all of Columbia for that matter. Which is fine, as the last thing that these heroic teens needed after losing their ranger status is to have some powerful monster show up and ruin everyone's day. But this peace won't last long. The beast that defeated them might be coming back. Or two of the most notorious villains of the rangers might be waking up. Who knows. Whatever the case, they must find these new ranger powers as soon as possible before these threats showed up.

Sonic's been spending the last month trying to figure out any other ranger powers that may lie in his home country of Columbia, or any neighboring countries for that matter. He's been sitting at his computer collecting any notes he finds useful. A small pile of paper can be seen nest to his workspace. So far, he hasn't found anything.

Sonic takes a stretch as he leans back on his chair. He then calls up his partner, Miles, just after he stretched. The two are currently in a call via a program in their computer. "What's your progress on finding those ranger powers, Miles?" Sonic asks, taking to the mouth piece.

Miles is also sitting in his room, collecting notes and working alongside Sonic to find these new ranger powers. Along the way, he has collected some tips. Such as never finding a serum that grows an additional tail, not unleashing some ancient tombs, and accidentally creating your enemy while trying to escape a building you've been trapped in since youth.

Placed in a shelf next to his bed is a collection of the legendary creature Keaton. He has a bunch of the multi-tailed fox figures all over the shelf.

Miles typed and searched throughout the web trying to find an answer. After doing a lot of research, he replies back to Sonic, taking a stretch. "Not good," he answered, yawning in tiredness, "So far, I've found nothing that remotely looks like it could be a form of ranger power."

Sonic pounded on his desk with his fist in frustration. "Aww great!" he groans. "We're doomed. It's a wonder that this place hasn't seen a single monster attack in the weeks following our defeat. What, are they attracted to us simply because we're rangers?"

Miles looks at his papers. "I've been looking at the data on monster attacks in the past several months," he reads, "and I've found an uptick in the frequency in monster attacks per month that coincided with the time when we first got our ranger powers. Back in September." He digs even deeper into his data that he collected. "I also noticed a sudden drop in the frequency in the amount of monster attacks that happened at the same week as when we lost our ranger powers. In the middle of January." He then straightened his pile of papers and placed it back on his work desk. "If I counted correctly, we have our ranger powers for exactly...four months."

Sonic was surprised by how short their time as a ranger is. "We're not rangers for even half a year," he remarks.

Four months, and all that both ranger teams managed to achieve is defeating a handful of rouge monsters that don't serve a leader or someone higher up. They did not get a chance to meet their prime enemy, because they don't have one. Normally, ranger teams lasted for a year before its members drop out of service, and that's after defeating their main villain. Not in either team's case. They've got no major villain to fight and they lost their powers before they could even find someone that they're actively fighting against. This is not a typical ranger team it seems.

Miles leans back on his chair, stretching his arms out. "All this working is making me tired," he yawned. Then he straightened himself. "Hey, mind if you visit the local park just for a break?"

Sonic performed a few stretches while sitting in his chair. "Sure," he agrees. "I need to stretch after all that work. I mean, there's homework, the search, and the sitting. I might as well take a jog in the park, just to keep those muscles moving."

Miles giggled, smiling at the response. "Okay, see you there," he bids.

"Have fun, Miles," Sonic replies. And then he ends the call and stands up from his chair.

* * *

Sonic exited his home on his way to the park. As he exits, he starts to take notice of the tree that was planted near his family's house. It's blooming. Normally, trees don't grow back their leaves until later in the year, but it struck to him as odd for this tree to grow its leaves so early. This might take a while.

As he jumps of the stairs and walked ahead, he collided with someone who is walking towards him. He is knocked back down to the stairs.

"Ow!" Sonic grunted as he lands on the ground. He rubs his head, covering his injury. "Who did I hit?"

"Well, if it isn't the blue boy who was crowned the MVP at the most recent kickball match against a rival school," he heard someone said.

Sonic looked ahead towards the one who bumped into him as he left his house. To his surprise, it's that rainbow-haired girl that he met over two months ago.

"What the..." he gasps. "Rainbow?"

Rainbow opens one eye and waves to him. "Hey there, Sonic," she greeted. "Sorry about the impact. That was my fault." She got up to her feet while also helping Sonic get back up to his feet.

"What are you talking about?" Sonic replies. "It was my fault that I slammed into you by accident. I was admiring my household tree as I was leaving." He shows off the blooming tree next to him.

Rainbow stared at the tree before snapping back to Sonic with an angry look. "What do you mean that was your fault?" she asked. Then she was right up to Sonic. "I was so distracted that I didn't notice you walking out the door!"

"Okay! Okay guys. Relax," Rainbow's father said as he comes in. "Let's just say that its the both of you who are to blame."

"Sonic, this is my father and school coach, Bow," Rainbow introduces. "Remember him from your visit to my house?"

"I was just going to the park to get a jog," Sonic replies, not answering Rainbow's question.

Suddenly, Manic peeked out the door. "Huh? Who's that?" he asked. Then he exited the house and hopped towards Rainbow. "Aren't you the girl from that picture?"

Rainbow looked at Manic, then back to Sonic, pointing at Manic. "Who's that?" she asked in a deadpan tone.

"That's Manic," Sonic answered, also in a deadpan tone. "My brother. Or at least..." He looks off to the side as he tries to figure put what to call his familial relationship with Manic, considering that he's not really his biological brother. Then he gives up. "Yeah let's call him my brother. Anyway, what are you here for?"

"Well, your mother called us the other day," Bow explained. "She said that she wanted to bring you two together."

"Ahh, I knew you two would come," Aleena said as she came in. "Bow Dash and his daughter Rainbow Dash. It's been a while since we last saw each other."

"Of course," Bow replied. "Last time we saw each other was a few years ago." Then Bow and Aleena had a laugh.

Manic looked at the parents of Sonic and Rainbow, confused about their friendship. "Wait, you two were friends at one point?"

Sonic leaned on Manic and whispered to him. "It's complicated," he said.

"Well, to briefly summarize..." Bow started to explain. Then he says everything under one breath. "It involves a war that happened 20 years ago between a group of Freedom Fighters and an evil mad scientist aimed to take over the world. Try saying that in five seconds flat."

Sonic, Rainbow and Manic all looked at Bow as they were shocked by this feat.

"Enough about that," Aleena declared, waving her hand in front of her. "For now, why don't we come in and have our meeting, shall we?" She then turns to Manic. "And Manic, you stay out of this. This is not something that you should be involved in."

Manic jumped, surprised that he didn't get to hear the first meeting between the two teams. "What? Why me?" he asked. "I wanted to listen!"

Aleena then turned to Bow, asking him to do something. "Mr. Dash, why don't you monitor Manic for a while?" she asked. "Make sure that he doesn't do anything too crazy."

"Sure this Miss Rush!" Bow replied, saluting to Aleena. Aleena then glared at Bow with a disapproving look. "Oh, I'm sorry," he apologizes. "My bad." He then shakes his body as he tries to do this the proper way. "Sure thing, Principal Aleena."

Aleena smiled at this. "Much better," she said.

* * *

Sonic, Rainbow, and Principal Aleena are all sitting at the dining table of the Rush household. While Sonic is toying with the glass, Rainbow has a lot of questions regarding the topic at hand.

"So, what's your plan here, Principal Aleena?" Rainbow asks, curious about what's going on.

Aleena grinned at both Sonic and Rainbow. "I'm going to talk about something that neither of you have talked about," she said, an aura of mystery surrounding her.

"And what's that?" Rainbow asks again.

Aleena then stood up from her seat, her arms spread out wide. "How about we merge your teams together?" she asked.

Rainbow is suddenly standing slamming her hands down on the table. Sonic, meanwhile, is unfazed by this. "What?" Rainbow gasped in surprise. "Are you-You're seriously thinking about this? But...our butts are kicked very hard when our teams meet up. And that was because of some guardian that showed up and destroyed our ranger powers." Rainbow now has her arms raised up in the air. "And after all of that, you think that a team merge is a good idea?"

Aleena nodded in response, confirming her decision. "Of course," she said." It'll be much better if you form an alliance together. You barely even know each other as far as I can tell." She stopped to look at Sonic and Rainbow. "Well, aside from you two, of course. That picture of yours have showed me that you two are pretty much friends at this point."

Sonic continued to play with the glass by rocking it back and forth on the table. He shifts his eyes at his mom. "Mother, I can't believe that I'm saying this again," he said. And then he stopped playing with the glass and stood up from his seat, leaning over the table towards Aleena. "After several weeks of nothing happening, I have to ask. How is this practical? Rainbow lives in a city that is way north of here. How is this going to work?"

"Uhh, Sonic?" Aleena reminded. "We have a highly advanced train system here in the country. Canterlot City is only a rather short train ride from Emerald City, you know?"

Considering that he and his team is going to use the train rather frequently along with Rainbow's team, Sonic's got something else to worry about. "But...what about fares to ride the trains?" he asked with a worried tone. "They might look cheap at first glance, but their cost can really add up if you use the train frequently. And judging by this, we're probably going to take the train many times in the coming months. Those cost can add up into the hundreds of dollars!"

Aleena glared at Sonic with a disagreeing look. "You appear to forgot the amount of money this household makes, thanks to me," she said. "As a principal, I get paid a lot of money. I'm sure we can handle this."

"Not all of us are in the same social class," Rainbow pointed out. "The members of both teams come from a wide range of income ranges. From the low income, to the middle, to the wealthy. I'm pretty sure that those in the low or middle class are probably going to be hit hard from all the train rides that we might be taking. Especially Pinkie. I heard from her that she's barely breaking even."

"Well, maybe you should've read the fare chart a little bit more carefully because there is something that can save you a lot of money," Aleena said. She then pulls out from her pocket a set of thirteen cards and placed them on the table.

The cards are the size of the average palm, resembling credit cards with a scanner code on the bottom. There are names printed on the cards. Their names, as well as the names of their friends. On the top are the initials CTN. "Slide card in as you enter and exit a station" is what is printed next to the initials, as well as "Keep on user at all times".

"These are your train membership cards," Aleena explained as Sonic and Rainbow picked up the cards with their names on it. "With these, you can avoid the process of getting a ticket and just go straight into the station without hassle. Using data about your start and end stations, the computer can charge you the appropriate fees based on how far you traveled. I had to spend the last few weeks trying to register your friends and get these printed, so you can thank me for that."

Sonic and Rainbow inspected their cards, admiring the effort that was put into them.

"Wow," Rainbow said. "That's so cool!"

"Thanks mom," Sonic said. "You're the best. Although, I have to ask. Why are the cards here?"

"I couldn't get the addresses of your other friends since their parents considered it to be a bit too personal," Aleena explains. "Also, these cards just came in last night, so I didn't have time to ship them off to your friends. For this, I task you two with bringing the rest of these cards to your friends, and then transport them into one location for the first peaceful gathering you had. Empashis on 'peaceful'."

Sonic and Rainbow picked up the rest of the cards which had their friends' name printed on them and put them in their pockets, separate from the one they put the card with their name on it. Except for the cad with the name Manic on it, as he is just nearby and Aleena can just give the card to him directly.

"Hey! Hey!" they hard Bow shouted from outside. Sonic, Rainbow, and Aleena turn their attention to the front door of the house. "Get down here! Let go of that branch!"

Sonic ran up to the door and opened it. Peeking outside is Rainbow, with Aleena just behind them. "Huh? What's going on?" Sonic asked.

"Try to catch me now!" they heard Manic taunted.

Sonic and Rainbow turned to the household tree, only to find that Manic has climbed up the tree with Bow below jumping in an attempt to catch Manic. Manic is giggling at Bow, while Bow is getting frustrated.

* * *

The sun is still rising towards its highest point as Sonic, Rainbow, and Manic arrive at the train station.

"Hope you enjoy your visit at Canterlot City!" Rainbow bids Sonic as she waves him goodbye.

"Hope you enjoy your visit at Emerald City, Rainbow!" Sonic replies, waving at Rainbow. He then went into the station, disappearing into the building.

Rainbow and Manic put their hand down as soon as Sonic left the city. Then, Manic tugged on Rainbow's jacket. "Hey, want to see the rest of Sonic's friends?" he asked. Then he ran out the station entrance as he dragged Rainbow by the sleeve. "Here, let me take you to them. They usually hang out at the local park."

* * *

Sonic's friends, Team Sonic, is taking a break in the park together, enjoying the cool morning and the fresh breeze. Miles is walking around the table wondering what's going on with his friend.

"What's taking Sonic so long?" Miles wondered.

"I don't know," Espio replied. "He's usually not this late."

Miles stopped to turn to his friends. "I promise that we would meet in the park to have a break," he said. And then he stretches out again. "All this working and research, it's putting a strain on my back!"

"Here," Knuckles offered as he stand up and walked to Miles. "Let me straighten it for you." He placed his hands on the lower back and upper chest and pushed on them both so that the spine is perpendicular to the ground. "Feeling better?"

Miles felt a tingling of pain going down his back. "No," he squeaks out. "It actually feels worse now."

"Oops," Knuckles apologizes as he let go of Miles' body. "My bad."

The other friends look at Knuckles after he accidentally hurt Miles while trying to fix his back.

"Hey guys!" Manic said from afar. And everyone turns their attention to him, along with a girl who's walking with him. "Look who's visiting this city for the day!" And then he and the girl ran up to them.

Amy recognized the girl as the rainbow-haired friend who frequently stands next to Sonic. She growls at the girl. "You," she said.

The girl stopped while Manic continued forward. "Huh?" she said.

Amy stood up and walked towards the girl. "Hey! Where is Sonic?" she said, pointing at the girl. "You didn't send him away just so I couldn't see him, did you?"

The look looked like she is freaking out. "What?" she said. "I-"

The girl was interrupted with Amy pulling her hammer out. "I won't allow you to do that to Sonic!" she cried.

Amy then proceeds to chase the girl down around the table as everyone watched. Amy whined as she slammed her hammer at the girl, while the girl shrieked at each near miss.

Miles glared at Amy as she ran. "Hey! Amy!" he shouted. "Chill out, would you?"

But Amy did not listen. She continued to chase the girl down with her hammer, crying as she ran.

Knuckles took one look at Amy as she passes and decides that the best course of action is to stick his arm out just as the girl passes by him. Amy collides with his arm and fell to the ground.

"Oh..." Amy groaned as she held on to her upper chest. "My chest..."

Knuckles leaned down and glared at Amy. "That's what you get for being jealous and handling it in a bad way," he said.

The girl is breathing heavily after that chase. Manic came up to her to check on her.

"You okay?" Manic asks.

The girl looked at Manic, still breathing heavily. "Yeah, I'm fine," she answered. "It's just that the pink-haired girl reminds me too much of Pinkie." She then gave an angry look to Amy as she was lifted up to her feet. "And that awful brother of Flutershy..."

One of those names struck as unfamiliar to Manic. "Who's Fluttershy?" he asked, trying to recall his memory. "I swear I seen Pinkie before. You know, during our fight when we first met?"

The girl placed her hand on her face while shaking her head and sighing. "That's not the point," she said. "The point is that this pink-haired girl reminds be too much of another clingy, obsessive lover of mine who just wouldn't stop pulling out that hammer whenever he's angry." The girl can practically hear the memories of her being chased by said person before.

Knuckles waved his hand into the air, signaling the two to come to them. "Okay, the situation has calmed down!" he announced. "You may approach us."

As Manic and the girl approached them, Espio leered at Amy, not appreciating the action she took against this visitor girl.

"Amy, if you ever pull out that hammer of yours again and swing it at this new girl, I swear we will confiscate that until she leaves," Espio threatens, pointing his finger at Amy's face.

The girl then clapped her hands together and wipe them up. "Okay then," she said, preparing herself. Then, she introduces herself. "Hey guys. My name is Rainbow Dash. You may call me Rainbow as well. I don't mind. I'm the leader of a team known as The Rainbooms, a team of girls and a single boy that-" She stopped herself when she took a closer look at the team in front of her. Including Sonic, there are six boys and one girl, exactly the reverse of her team. "Am I seeing the exact opposite situation here?" she asked.

The other team members try to recall the moment when they saw the friends of this girl. They don't remember seeing everyone, though.

Then Miles confirms it. "Yes. This is a team of all boys with the exception of that one girl that we have," he answered. "The only difference between this team of yours and our team is the number of members, it seems." He then gazes off into the distance as he muttered to himself. "I swear. I counted thirteen of us when we visited Babylon Garden, aside from the six teens that were there with us. And that thief."

"Okay...sorry, where was I?" Rainbow said as she was trying to find her train of thought. "Oh, right." And then she continued her introduction. "So I'm the leader and founder of this team called The Rainbooms. It's a little friend circle between me and my friends. We usually hang out together and, when a monster showed up, we transformed into rangers to defend my hometown. That is...well you know the event that happened where we lost our ranger powers. Did you?" She then took an interest in her new friends. "So, who are you guys?"

One by one, with the exception of Manic, the other members of Team Sonic introduces themselves.

"The name's Miles," Miles introduces himself. "I'm the little brother of Sonic, even though we're not blood related. I'm the brains of the group and I tinker in my free time."

There's something about the relationship between Sonic and Miles that strikes Rainbow as similar.

"My name is Knuckles," Knuckles said. "I'm a descendent of the tribe that once lived in prominence a long time ago. As you can see, I pack a lot of muscles." He flexes his arms and shows them off to Rainbow.

"I'm Amy, the girlfriend of Sonic," Amy said, bowing down to Rainbow. "And you know what they say? There can be only one!' Suddenly, she went into a roaring rage as she pulls out her hammer and plants her foot on the table. However, her hammer is swiped away. "Huh?"

Espio glared at Amy as Manic giggled behind him. "Nope!" Espio said. "You're not using that hammer again until this is over. Now calm down and wait until she leaves." Amy steps down from the table and takes a seat. Espio looked at Rainbow, clearing his throat. "So, shall we continue?"

"This is Silver speaking," Silver said, waving his hand. "Son of a wealthy family, whose parents are away several weeks at a time." He looks off to the side as he mentions his parents. "Seriously, what are they working on at Tomorrow Corporations?"

Espio stood up and took a bow at Rainbow. Espio here," he said. "Former member of a group known as the Chaotix. It dissolved after our first concert and since then I've trapped myself into this group of...whatever the heck these guys are." He takes a look at Sonic's loony pack of friends, before turning his attention back at Rainbow. "I'm also part of a line of ninjas. Family migrated over to Japan the last generation."

Everyone has properly introduced themselves to Rainbow. Except for Manic. Everyone turned to him as they waited for him to introduce himself.

"Manic, aren't you going to say anything?" Miles asked.

Manic shook his head with confidence. "Nope! I was already introduced to Rainbow here. Say, why don't we get to know each other a little better? Come on, join us at our table!"

Rainbow walked toward the table and sat along the rest of Sonic's friends. As they talked, a similar situation happens to the north of this park.

* * *

Sonic arrived at a Canterlot City park, looking for people that matches the descriptions that Rainbow gave to him earlier. The city feels quite familiar, kind of like home. The atmosphere, the environment, the skyline. It felt indistinguishable from Emerald City. It's a good thing that the landmarks are different just to remind him that this is not his home and that he is in a different place.

While looking around, Sonic noticed a group of people hanging out at a table. They seem to be talking to each other. Recalling what Rainbow said earlier, these people match the descriptions she made about her friends. In fact, they look familiar to him. Their clothing might be different, but their hair is the tag that labels them all.

Noticing that he has found Rainbow's friends, Sonic decided to walk up to them to have a chat.

"Hey guys," Sonic greeted as he came in. "So you're Rainbow's friends from before, am I r-"

"It's the kickball star of the south!" he heard someone gasp.

Suddenly, Sonic found himself surrounded by three younger children. They appear to be about the same age as Miles. One is yellow and has a bow accessory on her hair, another is white, and the third is orange. Strangely, the yellow and white girl seem to be confused when looking at him, while the orange girl appears to be excited to see him.

"Uhh, don't mind them," a girl said in a southern accent. She has a distinctive hat that separates her from the others, as they are not wearing hats. "Those are our little sisters. Except for the orange one..."

"Okay, okay. Back off a little," Sonic said to the three younger girls. "Let me introduce myself to these girls. And a boy...apparently." As he looked at what seemed to be Rainbow's friends, he can't help but compare them to his own friends. Afterwards, he sets that aside and introduces himself. "So, my name is Sonic," he said. "Leader of my own team of my own friends, Team Sonic. We hang out together, help each other out, and when danger comes we transform into rangers. Until that...event...where...you know what happened, right? You all saw that."

"Weren't you the kickball player that we saw made an astounding recovery?" the girl in the cowgirl hat asked.

"Applejack, would you mind if you introduce yourself?" the young lady asked.

The cowgirl realized that she forgot that part. "Oh, right," she said, adjusting her hat. Then she turns to Sonic. "I'm Applejack. Pleased to meet you, after we didn't get a proper introduction. Sorry about that. We were a bit too caught up in all the fighting."

The young lady smacks her hair to give a bounce. "I'm Rarity!" she said "Rising fashion star taking the position of my absent parents. Who are away most of the time."

The pink girl bounced from her seat. "I'm Pinkie!" she introduces herself. "The most fun loving party girl you'll ever meet! Wahoo!" She leap from her seat to shake Sonic's hand. Rapidly. After she stopped, Sonic clamped his arm to check on it.

"I'm Flutters..." the light yellow girl said, but her voice trailed off before she can reveal her full name.

"Pardon?" Sonic asks.

The girl leans back, looking a little shocked. "I'm...Fl..." she says again, but this time her voice went quiet even faster.

Sonic still didn't catch her name. "Excuse me?" he asked. "What is your name?"

"This is Fluttershy," Applejack said, filling in her place. "She's usually like that, all timid and that sort of stuff. Anyway, movin' on to our last friend over here, who is a boy."

The only boy in this group of girls haves his hand high into the air. "I'm Thunderlane," he said. "Token boy of the group. You may call me Thunder. It's much easier to remember. And a lot harder to mock."

Sonic took a look at group of Rainbow's friends, nodding as he gets to know them. "Okay," he said. "Now I'm getting to understand you a little more. Now, can we move on to the other stuff and-"

Suddenly, the young orange girl came up to him and grabbed him by the vest. "The name's Scootaloo, Rainbow's number one fan!" she said with enthusiasm. "I always would get excited whenever she shows up. Too bad that she lost her ranger powers." Her expression turned from excitement to sadness as Scootaloo went to the previous sentence.

Sonic looked at Scootaloo for a moment. Then he turns to the new friends, pointing a the young girl. "Is she a member of your team?" he asked.

Applejack shook her head. "No, she's just a younger kid who happens to be here," she replies.

Sonic let his arms drop, squinting at the friends with one eye and raising the eyebrow on another. "I thought that your team is a lot more similar to mine," he said.

Scootaloo then tugs on Sonic, bringing him down to her eye level. "What about you?" she asked, regaining her excitement. "Have you've gotten any younger siblings? I really like Rainbow a lot. In fact, I wish to become a younger sibling to her just like the rest of my friends."

Sonic pushed Scootaloo back and stood up straight. "Well, I've got two siblings, both are male," he answered. "One is Manic, who is part of the same household as me. Another is Miles, who really looks up to me and now he's an official member of my team."

This made Scootaloo's eyes sparkle. "Wow! That's so cool!" she said. "Where can I find this Miles guy? I wanted to see someone who has achieved the same dream as me!"

Sonic pondered for a moment. "Well, he lives on the same city as me, Emerald City," he answered. "It's a short train ride south from here so-" He shifts his eyes back at where Scootaloo is, only to find that she's not there. Sonic turns around and finds that she is running away. Sonic turns to Rainbow's friends, pointing at Scootaloo. "She's going into the train station, isn't she?" he asks. "Uhh...forget getting to know each other a little better. I've got someone to catch." He then sprinted off chasing after Scootaloo. "Hey...whatever your name is. Come back!"

Applejack looked at Sonic as he is running away. "Dang it..." she grumbled. "Guess we'll have to follow him if we wanted to know him a little better. Let's go, everyone."

As the team got up and prepares to leave, Pinkie suddenly got an idea in her head.

"You know," Pinkie began, "judging from this boy's team name, I think we can create a fitting team name for both of our teams."

The other members stopped to look at her. "Oh yeah?" Applejack asks. "What is it?"

Pinkie stood up, pointing to the sky. "I'd like to call it, The S-"

And the scene ends there.

 **[End of Episode]**

* * *

 **From the Author:**

Hi there once again.

So, Team Sonic and The Rainbooms have properly meet each other for the first time, not counting that disastrous meeting on Babylon Garden. Seriously, all that build up just for that to happen. Well, it's going to be a rough recovery from there. It's going to take a while before these wounds have fully healed.

Why did I have to cut the episode right before Pinkie was about to reveal her idea about what the team name should be? It's probably for spoiler reasons. Or I just wanted to mess with her. I don't know. Well, see you next episode!

* * *

Written by TheAPPstore

Sonic the Hedgehog character property of Sega

My Little Pony characters property of Hasbro


	5. The Gathering

**Episode 5**

 **"The Gathering"**

* * *

Finally, the two teams have met in full outside of a mission. Now, they get to properly introduce themselves to each other in the first ever gathering of the two teams. For over a month since they last met, none of the members of both teams have even bothered to visit each other. Now, with easier access to the train system that connects the two cites that they reside in, it's time to merge the two teams together into one.

* * *

 **[Beginning of Episode]**

Not even fifteen minutes in this place and already Sonic's leaving to go back to his home city of Emerald City. This time, he is joined by Scootaloo, self proclaimed biggest fan of Rainbow Dash. He had to chase after her after she ran off towards the train station without supervision, leaving the rest of Rainbow's friends behind without knowing much of him outside of his position.

Scootaloo squishes her face to the window as the trees and terrain passes by. "Ooh! This is so cool!" she squeals. Then she turns to Sonic, who is leaning on the wall of the train car. "I get to visit a completely different city from my own! I'd get to meet new friends, visit new places, and see the city from my own view. This is exciting! Aren't you, Sonic?"

Sonic patted on his hair and adjusts the collar of his vest. Then he moves his head down as he closes his eyes. "I'm not excited, considering that Emerald City is my home," he answered. "It's where I live. And in my lifetime, I'd know every significant place in the city from my many visits in my free time." He then looks up to take a breath before opening his eyes. "Ahh, home. You're so wonderful." Then he turns to Scootaloo. "By the way, you remind me of Miles during his younger years, always getting excited whenever someone you appreciate shows up."

Scootaloo jumped right up to Sonic, standing on a seat. "Really? That's so cool!" she said. "That makes me even more excited to see him! By the way, where is Rainbow? Haven't seen her in the park lately."

Sonic smiled at Scootaloo. "You'll see, little girl," he assures. "You'll see."

As Scootaloo sat down on a seat, Sonic looks off into the distance as he remembers a moment when Miles praised him and told him about his dream.

Those were the good old days until his timid self disappeared.

* * *

A young Sonic is playing a game of basketball against a group of bullies who decided to mess with Miles because he was so much smarter than them. Big mistake.

Miles watched from the fence as Sonic ran across the court, bringing the ball closer to the net. Then, Sonic jumps into the air, arcing towards the hoop. Miles gets excited as Sonic performs a special move in basketball.

"Slam dunk!" Sonic announces as he slams the ball into the net before hanging on to the rim of the net. The opponents were surprised at what this little boy can do.

"What the-?" one of the bullies gasped, unable to believe that a boy as young as Sonic of all people is able to perform a move like that.

"He has the nerve to do that?" another said, unable to contain her breath.

Sonic let go of the rim and landed on the ground. He then picks up the ball and spins it around on his fingertip. "Here's a tip for ya," Sonic said, smirking at the bullies. Then the ball stopped spinning and he grabbed it with both hands. Then he steps closer to the bullies who decided to mess with Miles and Sonic. "Don't. Ever. Challenge. Me. Or mess with Miles." With each word, Sonic steps closer to the bullies, forcing them to lean on their back. "Seriously, I'll beat you every time. I swear. I'm that much of a professional. Now, try to pick on someone your own size, would ya?"

The other bullies felt intimidated by Sonic's prowess and ran away to someplace else.

Sonic smiled as he spins the ball again on his fingertip. Meanwhile, Miles went into the court, running towards Sonic.

'Wow! That was so cool, Sonic!" Miles praised.

Sonic opened his eyes, looking at Miles while giving off a smirk. "That's what they get for challenging a professional," he said. Then the ball stopped spinning and he held it with both hands as he and Miles walked away to someplace else on the school field.

As they walked, Miles leaned back, looking at Sonic. "You know, Sonic," he began. "Would you like to know what I'd like to be when I grow up?"

"Sure," Sonic said, stopping in his tracks. "Don't be afraid to answer."

Miles walked out in front of Sonic. Then he let out an excited, pumped up stance at him. "I want to be just like you," he reveals. "Just as cool as you. I wanted to show these bullies what I'm made of. Show them that just because I'm smarter than them doesn't mean that they have to privilege to make fun of me." He then proceeds to punch the air, fighting an invisible figure.

"Ahh, Miles," Sonic commented. "That's my kid."

Miles continued to punch the air as if he's fighting something for the remainder of their outdoor period.

* * *

Sonic opened his eyes, taking a deep breath as he remembers his younger years. "Ahh, he grows up so fast," he said. "And he has changed a lot since then. Ahh, the good old times."

Scootaloo poked Sonic at the shoulder, catching his attention. "Umm, Sonic?" she said, pointing outside the window. "We're here."

Sonic looks out the window only to see a familiar station in front of him. Emerald City Knothole Station. The doors open, allowing them to exit the train and step onto familiar ground. Well, familiar to Sonic. This place felt like home for Scootaloo, except that it felt different at the same time.

Sonic yawned as he stiches his arms out. "Man was that visit short," he remarks. "I can probably relive that experience in the time it takes to travel from Canterlot City to Emerald City. Or the other way around. But whatever. Home city it is."

Sonic and Scootaloo left the station with the park as their destination. Sonic pointed the way to the park and Scootaloo would follow.

* * *

Trailing right behind them is another train, this time carrying the rest of Rainbow's friends. Applejack, Fluttershy, Rarity, and Thunder all found themselves stuck in this after Pinkie suggested going after Sonic and Scootaloo after Sonic left without giving a proper introduction.

Pinkie watches happily outside the window, watching the terrain and towns as they pass by. Meanwhile, Applejack looks exhausted looking out the window. The rest of the group just lounges around waiting to arrive at their destination.

"I can't believe that it's been a short time since we left off," Pinkie comments. Then she pulls her face away from the window back to her friends. "It feels like forever in the park before we bothered to get on the train."

The rest of the group aside from Applejack and Fluttershy glares at Pinkie, telling her that no, they began just a few minutes after the last one ended.

"Emerald City is just south of Canterlot City," Applejack said before turning to her friends. "Am I right?"

"Uhh, right," Thunder answers as he looks at the major cities that are linked by this one line. "Next stop, North Emerald City. I hope we catch up to that boy soon. He said that he lives there, didn't he?"

Applejack nodded her head. "Yep," she replied. "He said that he came from Emerald City alright." Then she looks outside just as the train enters a station. On the sign at the ceiling, it tells them that they're at Emerald City in the northern parts of the city. "And look. We've arrived."

The doors opened and passengers poured out of the train. There's not a lot of passengers at this time of day due to many of the frequent users being workers who have jobsites at places away from their home.

Applejack and the group exit the train, looking for someone that they met just a handful of minutes ago.

"That blue boy must be around here somewhere," Applejack said, scanning the station.

"Wait, but what about Rainbow?" Fluttershy reminds everyone.

The rest of the team looks at Fluttershy right after she reminded everyone to look for one of their friends as well.

"Oh, right," Applejack replied. "Rainbow as well. Haven't seen her in the park this morning. Come on, let's search the area."

The five friends went around the station searching for a friend.

* * *

Back at the park, a Frisbee is being tossed into the air. A hand reaches up to it and catches it in the air. It is revealed to be Miles, who reached up high into the very limits of his reach to catch the Frisbee in the air without stepping from his current position.

Rainbow applauded her friend after Miles managed to catch the Frisbee in the air. "Sweet moves, Miles," she congratulates.

Miles tossed the Frisbee back. "Thanks," he replied. "I learned that from Sonic. He's the coolest brother I could ever wish for."

Miles and Rainbow exchanged a little laugh. Meanwhile, away from them, Amy is fighting with Espio and Manic in an attempt to get her hammer back. The other two boys didn't bother to jump in.

Rainbow then walks up Miles and kneels down in front of him "You know, Miles," Rainbow began. "You kind of remind me of a younger girl named Scootaloo. She is said to be my biggest fan, according to her. She praised me and I would catch her following me from time to time. She said that she wanted to be cool like me."

Miles' eyes widen and sparkle as he notices that there is someone else who is quite similar to him. "Oh really?" he said. "That's kind of cool, actually. Reminds me of my younger years when I first met Sonic." He then looks off to the side and takes in a deep breath, looking back at his child self. "Ahh, my embarrassing old days where I was weak and helpless, despite my intellect. Can't believe that I changed in that amount of time."

"Rainbow Dash!' the two heard a girl shout in excitement. "You're here!"

The two looked towards the source of the voice, along with Knuckles and Silver. Meanwhile, Espio, Manic, and Amy are still wrestling with each other. To their surprise, Sonic's back in town after a relatively short visit. Next to him, however is a orange girl with purple hair. The others do not recognize the young girl, but to Rainbow, she's a recent friend, someone that she knew for as long as those who are not her childhood friend.

Rainbow was surprised to see this familiar face. "What? Scootaloo?" she gasped as she stood up.

"There!" Knuckles pointed, catching the attention of the other three friends. The other three stood up and peeked over the table, gasping as they saw that Sonic is back. "Over there! That's Sonic!" This Knuckles' attention turns to the little girl next to him. "But who is that little girl?"

"Oh. That's Scootaloo," Rainbow answered. "She's a young friend of-"

"Her biggest fan!" Scootaloo shouted as she ran up to Rainbow in excitement. She slammed into Rainbow and gave her a hug.

Miles looked at this new girl who is about the same age as him with confusion. "What?" he said, tilting his head. "I don't understand what you're speaking."

Scootaloo opened her eyes and looked at Miles who is behind Rainbow. Immediately, she let go of Rainbow and ran up to him, startling him. "Are you Miles, the younger brother of Sonic?" she asked, looking like she's ready to squeal.

Miles looked off to the side, feeling a bit awkward about the current situation. He's never this affectionate towards a girl, probably because he finds it gross. "Well...yes..." he said, stuttering and blushing. "But about that-"

Scootaloo tackle hugged Miles and knocked him to the ground. Her legs kicking the ground. "Aww, look at this!" she said. "I've finally found someone who shares my goal!"

"I-I already achieved it," Miles replied, looking awkwardly at Scootaloo.

"Doesn't matter," Scootaloo replied, "because that's exactly what I'm looking for!" She then let go of Miles and lifted herself up. "What's your secret?"

Miles lifted himself up to a seated position, scratching the back of his head clean of grass. "Well...I..." he replied, his eyes shifting all over the place. "Uh...It's complicated as to how I got here being Sonic's little brother. Even though we not biologically related very closely."

While this is going on, Sonic walked up to his prismatic haired friend. "Hey Rainbow," he greeted as he walked in.

Rainbow waved back. "Hey Sonic," she replied, raising her hand before letting it drop to her side. "How was the trip?"

"Eh, it didn't last very long," Sonic answered. "I was about to get to know your friends a little better when this girl ran off to see...Miles of all people." He pointed at Scootaloo and Miles behind them as the two continued to talk to each other while still in the grass. Rainbow looks behind her to look at the blooming friendship. This reminds Sonic of his relationship with Rainbow. "They look kind of sweet together, kind of like us," he commented.

Rainbow suddenly turned around looking at Sonic, blushing in embarrassment. "What?" she gasped. "Do you mean-"

"No!" Sonic replied in shock, waving his hands in front of him. "I didn't mean that! I was just making comparisons, that's all!"

Rainbow leered at Sonic, her hands up to her hips. "I thought that you were going to say that our relationship is...close let's say," she replied.

Knuckles looked at Miles and Scootaloo and noticed that Scootaloo is hugging Miles again. "Okay, you two," he said, moving his arms in a spreading fashion. "You may stop now. Miles is getting a but uncomfortable with all the hugs."

Scootaloo snapped her eyes opened and looked at Miles. He's looking a but uncomfortable and embarrassed. "Oops. Sorry about that," she said, letting go of Miles.

"Ah, there they are!" they heard a southern voice said.

The group turns to the voice and here arrives the rest of The Rainbooms. Applejack, Fluttershy, Rarity, and Thunder have all arrived and are now present.

The first thing that Rarity does upon arriving is to run up to Silver to hug him. "Oh, it's been so long since I've seen you, darling!" she said.

"Rarity, cut it out," Silver said, pushing Rarity away. "We don't wan to draw too much attention."

"Well, it's too late," Knuckles said. "Because you already got the unwanted attention." He then points to Thunder.

Thunder appears to be quite shocked to see that Rarity is displaying affection to someone else instead of him. The entire group looks at him as he leans back in surprise.

"Nah, it's probably okay," Thunder brushes it off. "After all, Rarity, when's the last time you've ever displayed affection towards me?"

Rarity responded with saying nothing.

"Well, this is unexpected," Rainbow commented as she saw that all the members of both teams have arrived. "I expected this to happen a little later, maybe next weekend. But, since we're all here, it's time for our first conference."

Sonic was knocked on one foot in shock. "Wait, are we doing this now?" he asked. Rainbow nodded in confirmation. Sonic then planted his feet on the ground. "Whatever, let's get this started. Prepare yourselves, everyone. We're having a conference here in the park." He then looks at Amy. "And Amy, enough with the hammer."

Amy is standing on the table with one foot on the table and another being pulled down by both Manic and Espio. She his holding her hammer out. Who knows what she's planning to do with that hammer of hers. Maybe she is smashing someone in the head. Or maybe she's tossing it to someone else.

* * *

Sonic and Rainbow, as leaders of their respective teams, stood in front of their friends as they prepare a speech for all of them to listen to. The other members gather up around the table, either sitting at it or standing besides it.

"Team Sonic and The Rainbooms," Rainbow announced, feeling a bit awkward as she said the names in the same sentence. "Listen up. This is an official conference between all of us. After that disastrous encounter of Babylon Garden, we lost our ranger powers and are unable to perform our duties as rangers."

"However, the monster attacks appears to be stopped for now," Sonic brings up. "This country has not experienced a single attack in the days since our encounter. However, this peace won't last long."

"I was warned by my teacher that the monster attacks might come back," Rainbow said. "Maybe its the guardian that defeated us earlier. Or maybe other villains of rangers from other worlds might come to this place and attack it. Whatever the case, we must find a new ranger power to replace our old one, as they are useless now."

"Miles and I have been searching for a new ranger power for the past month during our free time," Sonic added. "And in that month, we've found nothing that even resembles some sort of power up that empowers the user. Trust me. We tried."

Scootaloo turned to Miles as Sonic and Rainbow continued to speak. "Wow. They are really charismatic," she commented.

"Being a leader takes some skill in that field," Miles said. "If you want to be a leader, you'll better have the nerve to speak to a crowd of people."

"In preparations of future monster attacks, we must train our bodies from now on," Sonic said. "If we wanted to defend this world, we must be strong enough to even have a chance against future threats."

"Failure is unacceptable in the world of rangers," Rainbow added, closing her eyes. "And the consequences might be huge."

They suddenly for responses from their friends over the reasons why they failed against this specific monster. The guardian of Babylon Garden.

"That monster beat us because we're too weak to counter it," Knuckles shouted.

"No, we didn't see the weakness in time," Espio said, disagreeing with Knuckles.

"Actually, we're all foolish to take it on," Applejack said. "We simply didn't know how strong that thing is."

"Those are all valid reasons for why we fell against that guardian," Rainbow said to all of these responses. "But the real reason is this." She reaches into her pocket and pulls out a wad of paper. She unrolls it and shows it off to her friends. Scrawled in big letters across the paper was a note: Break the vase. "We did not spot the thing that will defeat the guardian. A vase. And even then, we would've been defeated anyway because the vase is very durable. How are we expected to break a vase and defeat that thing if we can't even destroy the very thing that's keeping it alive?"

Manic raised his hand to give an answer. "Drop it off the island?" he replied.

Applejack glared at Manic, disapproving at his suggestion. "I highly doubt even that would work," she said. "We need something more powerful than what we are able to do. And that's just not possible. Dropping the vase off the island simply won't do."

Manic dropped his hand in realization that his suggestion might not be the solution to their problem. And anyway, they discovered the solution after they encounter the problem and the problem beats them up, so how is that useful?

"That's the answer that I expected," Rainbow responded. "We need something more powerful than what our previous powers can provide."

A moment of silence fills the air as the friends stared at their leaders.

Sonic clapped his hands together, rubbing them and clasping on them "Alright, now that we're finished with talking about the thing that defeated us a month ago, let's talk about something a little more important," he said. "You see, earlier today, my mother, Principal Aleena, invited Rainbow and her father to come to my house, and she talked about this one thing that none of you guys have even talked about."

Sonic and Rainbow closed their eyes shortly before revealing the answer.

"And what's that?" Scootaloo asked.

Sonic and Rainbow suddenly opened their eyes as they reveal an idea never thought of before. "Merging the two teams," they both said at the same time.

"What?" the entire rest of the team gasped out in surprise.

"We might be living a train ride apart from each other," Sonic reminded, "but that doesn't mean that we can't be close friends. Let's consider this one group of friends the entire team, separated into two sub-groups. One lives in Emerald City known as Team Sonic..."

"...The other lives in Canterlot City known as the Rainbooms," Rainbow finishes.

Pinkie gasped as soon as she heard something she said earlier today. "You said the team name!" she shouted, suddenly standing up in her seat.

"What?" Sonic and Rainbow gasped along with everyone else who stared at Pinkie in confusion.

"What do you mean the team name?" Sonic asked. "We haven't come up with one yet!"

Pinkie places her hands parallel to each other and placed them on both sides of her. "Team Sonic. The Rainbooms," she said, getting an idea in her head. "How about we call this team The Sonic Rainbooms?"

Pinkie expected an grand celebration at this brilliant idea. Instead, all she got were awkward stares from the leaders themselves. The others were left scratching their heads in confusion.

"What kind of team name just combines the names of both its components and calls it a day?" Sonic asks, questioning the decision. "I'm sorry, but we've better come up with a better team name than that."

"And what kind of team would just refer to their team as The Sonic Rainbooms?" Rainbow asks. "That's kind of bizarre actually. Wonder if everyone will take us seriously if we call ourselves that. Now sit down, Pinkie. We're about to move on."

Pinkie sat back down a the table, whining like a dog. Manic make sure to comfort her to get her out of sadness.

"Starting from today, we'll be expected to visit each other from time to time, just to check on each other," Rainbow announced. "Now, that involves hopping on a train very frequently, and paying for those fares to ride the train can get a bit obnoxious, especially considering the frequency that we're taking the train."

"Trust me, do you know how long the average person takes to pay the fare and get a train ticket?" Sonic asked his audience. "It might seem short, but those lost seconds can add up. To get around this issue and make traveling a bit more streamlined, my mom brought you all these." He reaches into his pockets along with Rainbow and pulled out a set of ten cards, one for each of the members aside from Manic and themselves. They then handed them out to their friends.

"What?" Silver said, looking at his card. "Our own train subscription cards? That have our names on it?"

"You made these...for us?" Rarity asks, looking at the leaders.

"These are your train subscription cards," Sonic explained. "They're only available to citizens of Columbia and are only useful to those who take the train quite frequently. From sports players to businesspeople to those who have friends or relatives living in other places, this card will allow you to bypass the process of buying a ticket."

"Also, the fares are calculated based on how far you traveled from a station that you entered to a station that you exited, making them a bit cheaper considering the distance between here and Canterlot City," Rainbow added. "Plus, they're reusable, for as long you want to ride the rails."

All the people who are attending this conference has received their own train card that they can use for riding the train. Except for Scootaloo, who has not received a card of her own.

"Huh?" Scootaloo gasped, looking at the rest of the friends. "Why did...where's mine?"

"Sorry Scootaloo," Rainbow said, "but you're not a part of this team."

"What?" Scootaloo gasped. "But...can I join your team? I wanted to be in the same team as you! I want to be with you, see what life is like for you guys, and most of all, I wanted to be a ranger like you guys."

"Well, I'm sorry my friend," Miles said, "but that's not viable."

Scootaloo looked at Miles as soon as he made that comment. "Huh? What do you mean that's not viable?" she asked, confused by what that means.

"Ranger business is tough," Rainbow said, leaning on the table. "I mean, did you even see rangers in action? Other than us, of course. Did you even see the dangers they have to face just to defend their home from their enemies?"

"Plus, some rangers just...you know...perish in the line of duty," Sonic added. "So already that's pretty risky."

Rainbow went up to Scootaloo, emphasizing the dangers associated with being a ranger. "Did you even see the thing that defeated us and destroyed what remains of our original powers?" she asked. "That thing is tough and powerful. No way our suits can deal with fighting something as powerful as that."

Miles stepped in to tell Scootaloo something that she should keep in mind. "If you wanted to be a ranger-or a soldier for that matter-you've got to understand the risks associated with serving your homeland," he said. "You're risking your life. You're fighting for the protection and safety of your home. You're in constant danger. Are you sure you're up to the task, even when you're untrained."

"Aww," Scootaloo cried, wiping a tear. She turned to Rainbow "But I want to be a ranger and be a part of your team."

"Part of my team?" Rainbow asked, shocked by Scootaloo's decision. "You don't even attend the same school as me. You're a few grade levels lower than me, so we're probably not going to see each other as often. Sorry about that."

"Plus, if you wanted to hang out with all the older kids a little bit more often, you've got to skip a few grades," Sonic brought up, pointing his thumb at Miles.

"And if you want to skip a few grades, you'd better be a genius like me," Miles added. "So intelligent that not even the things at your expected grade level would not be considered challenging enough. I know, I'm a bit of a weird kid whose brain developed at a earlier time than most people that of my age."

Scootaloo tilts her head down at the disappointment that she'll never be a part of this team, as least in the short term. She just wanted to be a bit more similar to Miles and be a bit closer to Rainbow Dash, her idol.

Suddenly, Manic stood up to make a suggestion. "Hey, do you want a little tour of Emerald City?" he suggested. "We can't go very far, so feel free to explore this neighborhood for a little bit."

Then, Pinkie stood up to add into Manic's suggestion. "And then after that, we'll take the train and let you have a tour of my neighborhood," she added. "Just so that we're even."

This perks up Scootaloo. "Hey, even though I'm not a part of this team, I've still got to walk with you," she said. "I can't really go back on the train without somebody older to watch me. So I guess I'm stuck in here until we get back to Canterlot City up north. And you know what that means." She then shifts her eyes toward Miles.

Miles can felt shivers going down his spine as Scootaloo stares at him. "Seriously girl?" he asked. "Cut that out."

Scootaloo felt devalued when Miles refered to her as just a girl. "Don't call me girl," she said, leaning towards Miles while pointing to herself. "My name is Scootaloo, and you should know that."

"Well, I guess a tour is underway," Sonic decided, adjusting his collar. "Come on, everyone. Let's get going." He then looks at Rainbow. "Hey, mind if I take you to the local youth center?"

"There's a youth center?" Rainbow asked in surprise.

"They're everywhere as long as there's a school around," Sonic said as he walked away.

"Hey! Wait for me!" Rainbow said, going after Sonic.

Sonic then increased his speed to running speed. Rainbow does the same thing, boosting to running speed.

"Haha!" Sonic taunted. "Race you there!"

"Come back here!" Rainbow yelled as she continued to chase after Sonic. And soon, the two ran off out of the park.

The rest of the team members, including Scootaloo, looked at each other and gave a shrug. They decided that Sonic and Rainbow should tour on their own, and they went off in a different direction to visit someplace else.

Unbeknownst to any of them, watching from the trees are four parents, both pairs are the parents of the two leaders. Bow Dash and Firefly Dash, the parents of Rainbow Dash. Chuck Rush and Aleena Rush, the parents of Sonic Rush. Together, the four watched as Sonic and Rainbow ran off, challenging each other to a race.

"The children here are wonderful," Firefly, the woman in the blue hair, commented. "Especially ours."

"They're just like us when we were about the same age as them," Bow said as he watched the two leaders race down the sidewalk. "Having fun together in their free time."

"They're us all over again," Chuck added. "The events from our past gets passed down to our children."

"I can almost remember the time when we first met," Aleena said, closing her eyes and flashing back to the days where these four were together. "During the Columbian War of the 1990's."

It turns out that the families of both Sonic and Rainbow have a connection long before Sonic and Rainbow even met each other.

 **[End of Episode]**

* * *

 **From the Author:**

So, this is it. Team Sonic and The Rainbooms have officially merged together. Kind of. They still operate in separate cities, but will make frequent visits to each other should they find the time to do so. Once the two teams merged together, Pinkie suggested a name by combining the names of the component teams. She refers to this as The Sonic Rainbooms. Even the leaders think that its ridiculous.

That name will never stick around! Would it?

* * *

Written by TheAPPstore

Sonic the Hedgehog characters, property of Sega

My Little Pony characters, property of Hasbro


	6. Before the Rangers

**Episode 6**

 **"Before the Rangers"**

* * *

Before the then-rangers were even born, there was the Freedom Fighters. Caught in a war to defend their country, these brave young soldiers are fighting against the Robot Empire, lead by Gerald Robotnik and his newfound robot assistant. Taking place just before the Machine Empire invasion on the Human World, these adolescences transforming into adults must do whatever it takes in order to protect their home. Even with international allies fighting by their side, it's still going to be a while before they see the dawn of peace.

This is a brief summary of what happened during the war.

* * *

 **[Beginning of Episode]**

In a fine weekend as the sun goes down, Sonic and his parents have been summoned to Rainbow's house to tell the children the story of the war that happened twenty years ago. A meeting that predated the faithful meeting between Sonic and Rainbow.

Firefly, the woman with the cerulean hair and the mother of Rainbow, grabbed a book from a hidden shelf and placed it on the table where the two families are sitting at. The book looked like a journal, a recount of all the events contained with its pages.

"This world that you see here has suffered from countless wars," Aleena began as the pages are being turned. "From little skirmishes to global total wars. Millions perished in the battlefields, and may more were wounded. Many cities were leveled during the war and was costly to rebuild."

Firefly leaned closer to the children. "But no war is more chilling than the Columbian War," she said, "a war that took place in this very nation. It was a contained war, yes, but thousands were slaughtered during the battle, many of which are civilians turned soldiers. Many buildings were flattened, while roads were damaged. It would seem as if our world would come to an end." She then turned the page with featured a photo of four people receiving metals. "Or is it?"

The photo is taken at the awards ceremony after the war ended and the buildings were being repaired. Featured on the photo were four soldiers, the parents of Sonic and Rainbow. Aleena, Chuck, Firefly, and Bow. Together, these four young heroes helped to rescue Columbia from falling into a cruel, devastating empire. One that resembles the forceful empires that their grandparents struggled against.

Bow then speaks up, explaining what they did. "As it turns out, a group of resistance fighters known as the Freedom Fighters were able to overthrow the invasive forces and preserve the current ones that they have."

"Their enemies and the ones who instigated the war?" Chuck asked the children, waiting for a response. Then he gives a response himself after the children were unable to answer. "Gerald Robotnik and the Robot Empire."

"And how it started might surprise you," Aleena said.

The story of the Columbia War then begins.

* * *

Gerald Robotnik is a former superintendent of the Columbia Lakes School District, the very district that the parents attended when they were growing up. After a series of questionable decisions, government forces came in and strip him of his position and was banned from taking a position in education ever again, no matter how insignificant the position is. That means that he can't be a teacher, a school consoler, a school secretary. None of that can be taking as a career for Gerald. Also, he is banned from even entering a school after that scandal, meaning that his education career is over.

Devastated, Gerald Robotnik turned to evil way and bordered on insanity. Holding a grudge against the government for stripping him of his position, he decided that to get his revenge, he has to overthrow the current government and replace it with his own. There, he can make his own rules and his officials will be unable to stop him. He'll create an empire to show them that he's not something who should be messed with.

"All these empires," Gerald said as he stared at his computer screen in his base of operations. His study room is rather empty, with nothing but a computer and some desks taking up less than half of the available space. "They rise to their peak only to crumbled shortly after. Pathetic. These weak empires. They popped up and in a few years they rise to their peak, but a few years later they crumbled due to outside forces."

Gerald pumped his fist up and raised it to his face. "Not in my case," he declares. "I will create an empire that would last forever. One that will crush all who try to resist. One that will have a legacy that is sure to linger for generations to come. Yes...I'll show those government folks that they messed with the wrong superintendent.

He then looks at his army count, only to point out its low count. All he has is a handful of handmade robots. "But I don't know if my current army is powerful enough to do this," he said. "It might take years to reach that point and by the time I'm ready, I would've forgotten it." He then walked around his room in front of his computer, pondering for a solution. "There must be a faster way..."

"I see you're experiencing the same problem as me, old man," a robotic voice said.

"Who's that?" Gerald asked, looking around the room to search for the one who said it.

A chilling voice then shivers his spine. "Right behind you," the robotic voice said.

Gerald Robotnik turned around, his body shaking as if he's experiencing an earthquake. Standing between him and the door to his study room is a humanoid robot that towers over him by a bit. "Wah!" Gerald shrieked, stepping backwards into his computer. He then reaches for a hidden compartment and pulls out a laser firing weapon. He points at the robot, his hands shaking in fear. "What are you doing in my room?" he asked, demanding an answer. "Haven't you learned to knock?"

"Put that thing down, old man," the robot ordered. "I'm not here to hurt you."

Gerald lowered his weapon, his arms still shaking in fear. "Okay," he said, heavily breathing. "What's your business? What are you doing in here?"

The robot then makes a few steps towards Gerald as he explains what he's here for. "I used to be a empire builder," he said, "in my home world that is the Machine World. I was planning to take over that world, but a bunch of rebel scums have showed up and managed to overpower me. I managed to escape, but..." He then looks behind him towards the door, sighing through his voice chip. "I'm afraid to come back there. Some of my own kind might be waiting on the other side for me."

"Why did you escape?" Gerald asked, curious about this robot's life.

"I realize too late that I did not have enough time left in my hands in the current state to fight back," the robot answered, "to return the favor and overpower the rebels who are fighting against me."

Gerald starts to take an interest with this robot. "Huh. Interesting," he replied. "So, what can you do?"

"Watch and learn," the robot said as he sticks his arm out.

The computer behind Gerald starts to make some noise, becoming louder and higher pitched over time. Then, all of a sudden, the computer blacked out, sparks flying from parts.

"Hey! Watch it!" Gerald yells, berating the robot. "You busted up my computer by overloading it! You'll pay for this!"

"That's the power of my ability," the robot explains, lowering his hand. "I can increase the power of machines sometimes to the point of overloading them. While it seems to be useful on the outside, it also became my downfall, at least at the Machine World. You see, whenever I tried to empower my own troops in battle, I would often accidentally empower the opposing forces, making my power pointless." He then turns his back to Gerald, spreading his arms out. "But in this world, this place is mostly inhabited by living organisms, those who are not made of metal and circuits. Therefore, I would find more use in this world than others, as out forces can consist entirely of robots." He then turns around and shoves his face into Gerald's. "With these, we can crush all who oppose us and create an empire in the name of me!"

"That seems like a deal I'd like to take," Gerald agrees, nodding his head. "Let's do this." he sticks his hand out offering a handshake of unity.

"I see that you're interested in me," the robot said, taking Gerald's handshake. "By the way, what's your name?"

Gerald lets go of the robot's hand as he gives an answer. "Gerald Robotnik," he said, snickering.

* * *

Gerald Robotnik, along with the robot he named "Amplitude" worked together in harnessing the power of remote enhancements so that Amplitude does not have to be on the battlefield to be so effective. After months of building robots, it is finally time to put their plan into motion.

The Columbian War began with an attack on Emerald City. People watched as the new robots get rolled out. The police tried to intervene, but thanks to the remote amplifiers many of them were easily defeated and wiped out. Then the military arrived to stop the invading forces and found that their weapons were weak against the robots.

Soon, an all out war sparked in Columbia, with the government declaring national emergency as the robots continued to wreck through the cities without any opposition. They also summoned their allied nations to come in and help, warning them that the robots they're fighting against might get a power boost mid-battle due to one of the robots containing a amplifier that empowers all surrounding robots.

Soon, the entire country is in a crisis.

* * *

Months into the war, a young Chuck runs across the streets of a ruined city as the robots approaches behind them. He looks back every few seconds as the robots draw closer and closer.

"Get to the bunkers!" a soldier yelled. "They're approaching us!"

Chuck climbed the piles of debris that is standing in his way. The bunker doors are close. He can feel the cool, comforting air flowing out of the bunkers from here.

"Somebody! Help me!" a girl screams.

Chuck stopped in his tracks. "Huh? Who said that?" he asked as he scouted the area. Then he turns in the direction of the voice, finding a purple girl, about the same age as him, being trapped under some concrete that has fallen on her.

"Help!" the girl cried, trying to push herself out. Her legs and lower body are pinned down by a single, shattered slab of concrete. "I'm stuck in this pile of concrete! I can't get out!"

Chuck saw the girl and knew that she is in danger. The question is, how much time he ahs left before the robots catch up to him. Time is running out, and he has to make a decision. Seeing that this girl is hurt, however, Chuck jumped in and face against time to rescue the girl. "Hang in there, lady," he said, assuring the girl as he lifted the slab off of her. "I'll save you."

Chuck lifted the slab off of the girl's legs, freeing her from her prison.

"Thanks," the girl said, breathing heavily from the stress. "I appreciate it." She then patted Chuck on the shoulder. "My name is Aleena," the girl introduces herself.

"Oh really?" Chuck replied. "Well, my name is Chuck. Nice to meet you."

Chuck and Aleena soon find themselves staring into each other's eyes as the sound of the robots draws near.

"What are you doing over there?" a soldier cried out. "You're going to get yourself blasted! Quickly! Into the bunkers!"

Chuck and Aleena were snapped out of their fantasy and looked over the hill of debris. The robot have arrived. Screaming at this, the two make a break for the bunker as the robot fired its weapon onto them. Chuck and Aleena move erratically as the shots are fired, causing them to miss. They then reached the bunker just in the nick of time, with the door closing just before the robot made another shot. The bunker door withstand the blast, forcing the robots to leave to another place as camping can pose a serious problem should another group ambush them.

This moment earned both Chuck and Aleena the surname of Rush, due to them rushing towards the bunker door at the last possible minute.

"Phew," Chuck said, wiping the sweat off of his face. "That was close."

Chuck and Aleena are breathing heavily from all the running and stress.

Meanwhile, on the other side of the bunker, Lieutenant Bow communicated with the fighter pilots to check on their status.

"Firefly, what's your status in the air?" Lieutenant Bow asked.

Recently, air drones have been rolled out as another way of fighting those who resist them. To counter this, the soldiers turned to the fighter planes that has been in use ever since places are invented shortly before the Great War. Equipped with advanced technology courtesy of the past mistakes, these planes have been built to minimize the chance of being knocked out of the sky.

General Firefly is taking a break from ground troops and testing out the new flight equipment against the drones. Naturally, the fleet of drones has a amplifier drone hidden in the fleet somewhere. To the pilot's surprise, however, their plane's performance somehow increase when nearing the drones.

"Our enemy is trying out the same tactic as on the ground," General Firefly replied as she flew her plane around the drones. "Using a strange device to hopefully empower allies surrounding it." She watches her speedometer and notices that the speed of her plane is increasing. "However, it's useless up here, as that device seems to be empowering my plane as well."

"What?" Lieutenant Bow gasped, slamming down on the command board. "That's impossible! Those machines handed their firepower at us and they severely damaged our weaponry."

Firefly maneuvered her plane and shot down all of the drones. Without losing a single pilot. "Next time you fight us, you'd better plan for this," she said as the drones fall out of the sky. Then she speaks to ground control. "Everyone, my squad has taken out all of the drones without losing a single one. Thanks to that amplifier of theirs."

Lieutenant Bow is speechless by this feat, along with everyone else in the bunker who heard that.

"I'm...I'm impressed, General Firefly," Bow said, his arm shaking from shock and dropping his communicator. Then he brings the communicator up to his mouth again. "Get to this bunker, Firefly. You have something that needs sharing."

* * *

Hours later, Firefly shared her experience with the rest of her fellow soldiers. She placed a record of what happened during that battle, as well as some assumptions the researchers have made based on the events in the previous few months.

"According to the data that I gathered, that machine increases the power of anything that surrounds it," Firefly explains the notes collected.

"Of course it amplifies the soldiers' power," Chuck replied. "They totally kicked out butts out there."

Firefly shifted a few papers around. "Yeah, but notice this," she said, pointing to a data point she collected from several planes. "While the foot soldiers, us, did not get empowered by that device, the sky forces were empowered, making the device pointless as it increased both power and durability." She shifts the paper again, revealing the list of everything that appeared to gain power in the middle of a battle. Firefly pointed to them "And if you notice, there's one thing in common that all of these things that do get empowered by the device share. Did you know what that is?"

The crew took a look at the list of things that gained power mid-battle. They began to notice something that connects them all. Robots, tanks, drones, planes. Those are the things that gain power in the middle of battle.

Aleena looked at the items listed and realized something. "They're machines," she concluded. "Yes, of course! The reason is we keep on losing these past couple of battles is because while our weapons might be powered up, we, as non-machines, don't, so the device makes it harder for us to destroy the machines that are attacking us."

The surrounding crew looks at Aleena after she makes the conclusion.

"Fair point," Chuck said, pointing his finger at Aleena.

"But, if we use mechanical suits," Aleena added, "we might be able to make their empowering device pointless, making the path to victory a simple, but long one. And we're going to need a lot of data if we're ever want any hopes to winning this war."

"Aleena, that's a brilliant thing that we should do," Bow responded. "How about we put it into action?"

"Our soldier has said it," Firefly said as she picks up the papers. "Time to switch to mech suits to turn the tide."

* * *

Back at Gerald's Headquarters, Gerald watched from a repurposed study room at their monitor as they monitor the progress that their robot troops are making. The monitor is showing how much land the Robot Empire has taken control over. Most of Columbia is controlled by them, with large population centers falling under their control. The only area that they have yet to have control over are either large uninhabited areas or the few remaining pockets their resistance fighters have control over.

"What's our status?" Amplitude said as he walked in.

"Ground support is fine," Gerald answered, looking at the numbers of every single robot that was tracked. "We are overpowering the puny humans as expected." He then looked at the troops that are not the ground troops, the air forces and water armies. He grows a frown on his face. "Everywhere else, however..."

Amplitude is confused over the ambiguity of the situation. "What? What?" he asked. "What are you talking about?"

"That device that uses your power," Gerald beings to explain. "I think they're using it to their advantage."

This information shocks Amplitude, and brings him back memories of the times he tried to build an empire in his old home world. "Wait, what?" he gasped.

"Not only is it powering up our drone fighters," Gerald said, disappointing his robot assistant admiral, "its also powering up their machines. Their planes."

A wave of anxiety and shock smacks Amplitude in the face as he realizes that these new resistance forces are using the same tactic as his old resistance forces. "Its the same situation I encountered when I attempted to make an empire at the Machine World," he muttered. "Am I...am I doomed to fail no matter what? Is my power...a curse?"

"Let's not give up hope right now," Gerald assures his robot friend. "We still have control over the majority of Columbia, including all major population centers. If we can take over the last pockets of land still owned by those rebels and defeated every last enemy, we might be able to win this. Trust me, this war involves more than just us and Columbia, we're fighting against the whole world."

* * *

Over the next three years, researchers from around the world worked around the clock to find a way to somehow stop this robot army from taking over the world. Columbia has nearly fallen, and the influence is bleeding over into other countries.

Along the way, mechanized suits are being produced to hopefully overpower the robots even in their base form. The rebels soon discover that the amplifiers that the robots are using to boost their own power only does so by a set amount. They discovered this after months of going out into the battlefield and recording and collecting data about the robots they are fighting against.

Using powerful new technologies, four mech suits are produced, waiting to be worn by four chosen soldiers who contributed the most into this war.

As for the four focus soldiers, they proved to be the best in their rankings.

Chuck has taken over the flight squadron over General Firefly. His leadership skills coupled with a large knowledge of aircraft has earned him the title Air Marshal. His fellow soldiers often dropped the "air" out of his title, thus codenaming him Marshal Chuck.

Aleena stayed outside the fights and provide strategies to defeat the robots. She told the soldiers what to do and how to adapt when the situation changes. Though she tends to pressure the soldiers into hurrying up even when there's more than enough time, her contributions has earned her the title of Commander, making her Commander Aleena.

Firefly and Bow have retained their position and proved themselves to be the best soldiers the Freedom Fighters have to offer. Taking out countless robots and using stealth to surprise the enemy, these two have earned them a high amount of respect from their fellow soldiers. They also developed a budding relationship as they fight, becoming closer and closer over the years of war.

At the same time, knowledge of the robot armies have allowed the Freedom Fighters along with allied nations to perform a counterattack on the Robot Empire. Thanks to their efforts, they were able to reclaim the land that was lost to the Robot Emprie.

Three years after the war started, the Robot Empire has lost nearly all of the land they once owned. The Columbia War is about to come to a close.

With the war closing down on them, its time to turn to the mech suits to perform the finishing blow that will end the Robot Empire once and for all.

* * *

"The mech suits are completed," a scientist, colored mostly gold and yellow, said as he presents the four mech suits under a spotlight. "They have been fully armed to counter enemy robots."

Chuck, Aleena, Bow, and Firefly stood in front of the mech suits that are ready to be deployed.

"I must agree," Chuck said. "After years of fighting and with victory dawning in on us, it is time to end this in a spectacular fashion."

"Lieutenant Bow," the scientist asked, "Are we ready to unleash these?"

"We are clear to launch, Parsec," Bow replied.

The four soldiers stepped in front of the mech suits as Parsec announces the four who are chosen to command these mech suits for the final blow.

"Lieutenant Bow, for your hard work in supporting the troops, you get the first of the mech suits," Parsec announces.

"Yeah!" Bow said with enthusiasm.

"General Firefly, your flight history has been excellent," Parsec said, looking at Firefly. "You'll get the second mech suit."

"With me around, there's nothing that can stop us, no matter the medium," Firefly said.

"Marshal Chuck, you are a survivor of this war, and your knowledge of how planes work has served us well in combat," Parsec told the person he's choosing. "Being a vital part in our squadrons, no matter the terrain, you'll get the third mech suit."

"Land, sea, or air," Chuck said, recalling his previous missions. "It doesn't matter where I am, I'll always be vital to the success of the missions."

"And finally, Commander Aleena," Parsec said. "Even if you rarely did any combat, your plans have made us successful in our missions by pointing out vital weak area in the enemy's defense. For this honor, you'll get the fourth mech suit, the one with the amplifier."

"I hope my plans served you all well," Aleena said, bowing down to Parsec.

The doors open as the mech suits are getting ready to be lifted.

"It's time to end this war once and for all," Parsec announces as the four chosen soldiers walked towards the mech suits. "Get to Gerald's base of operations and stop this man from trying to make a comeback. We've fought this war long and hard, so let's finish this off with style!"

Chuck, Aleena, Bow, and Firefly climbed onto the mech suits as they were being lifted into the surface. The final hours of the war has just begun.

* * *

The robots retreat as the four mech pilots fly over the ground finishing off every last robot that dares to defy them.

"Hahaha!" Firefly laughed as she fires down at the retreating robots. "Retreating won't take you anywhere. You may run forever, but you can't hide forever!"

The other three notices that Firefly is getting ahead of them.

"Firefly, slow down!" Aleena commended. "Wait for us to catch up!"

"Says the one who keeps on pressuring soldiers to hurry up," Firefly countered.

Bow boosted his speed and caught up with Firefly. "Listen, Firefly," he said. "We're in this together. Aleena's got the amplifier in her mech suit, so let's try to remain close together to gain the full benefit of the power boost."

"And besides," Chuck said, speeding up to catch up with the others. "Gerald's base is protected by powerful turrets. We might need all the help we need."

Firefly blasted the last of the robots. "Alright! That should be the last of the enemy's robots," she said. "Now we can focus on taking on Gerald Robotnik himself! Let's go, everyone!"

The four mech pilots fly off in the direction of Gerald's base. They have their eyes on it since the war started.

* * *

Gerald's base is located on a small island located at the southern end of Emerald Sound. It is a stronghold built within a small mountain with steep cliffs. Large sections of the actual structure is seen protruding from the cliff walls. Surrounding the base are powerful turrets, able to sink even the toughest of ships.

However, with knowledge of the range based on the many failed attempts at invading the base, the four mech pilots hover just beyond the ranges of the turrets and fired off a series of long range shots at them with their rifles, powered up thanks to the amplifier attached to Aleena's mech suit. It took them a lot of shots and a lot of near misses but eventually, they managed to deactivate all of the turrets by an excess of damage.

"Alright! We did it!" Firefly cheered. "We busted all of their turrets!"

"Now..." Aleena began to order. "Let's storm their stronghold!"

The four pilots began to speed off towards Gerald's base and crashed through the window at the top floor, coming into the command room, a repurposed study room.

"Oh no!" Gerald gasped. "They've made it inside! After they busted my precious turrets that are protecting this base!"

"Stay back, doctor," Amplitude said, approaching the pilots. "I got-"

Chuck has enough of their enemies talking and simply fired a laser shot at Amplitude, knocking him back and sending him crashing at a wall. He would not move after this.

"Amplitude!" Gerald cried, reaching out for his robot companion. "Noooo!"

"You're going down, Gerald Robotnik," Bow shouted. "Our former administrator."

Gerald turned around, shaking and breathing heavily. Upon closer inspection, he realized that he is faced with the four significant members of the Freedom Fighters, one of the groups he's fighting against. "What the-you guys?" he gasped. "You came in here to stop me?"

Aleena hopped out of her mech suit along with the other three soldiers. She approached Gerald Robotnik with a threatening look. "Alright, Gerald," she said. "Time for an immediate interrogation. What is your goal?"

"T-To build an empire, that's what," Gerald answered, stuttering.

"And why is that your goal?" Chuck asked.

Gerald clutched his fists as he explains his reasonings. "I-I wanted to get my revenge for those pesky principals and governors who kicked me out of the education field and banned me from holding any position in education forever," he answered, looking away from the them. "You rodents. I had all this power that I dreamed of holding once again, and you overthrew me?"

"Gerald, did you ever realized why you were kicked out?" Firefly asked as she walked up to Gerald. "The reason you were kicked out is because you abused your power. The power of your position as a superintendent."

"What?" Gerald gasped in disbelief. "What are you talking about?"

Each of the remaining three soldiers tell Gerald why he was kicked out his superintendent profession.

"You illegally swipe funds off of the school's budget and used it for your own benefit," Chuck said, recalling the headlines telling that schools are receiving less funding despite the district being funded highly.

"You threatened to fire principals who did not conform to your standards," Aleena said, remembering the moment when her former principal has to face a firing for seemingly no reason.

"You did not care when schools are in need of your help. You swept the problems under the rug and forget about them," Bow said, remembering seeing depreciated schools who do not receive enough funding to do anything.

"And now," Firefly said as she yanks off a rifle from her mech suit, "your days are finished."

Gerald looked at these four young adults and was baffled by what they're saying. "Wait...how did you know?" he asked.

"We remember everything," Aleena answered. "All the events that were going on in the district, all the teachers that are suffering, all those crumbling schools. Face it, Gerald. You don't deserve to be a superintendent anymore, because you did not care about anyone but yourself. Is that clear?"

Gerald did not responded. Instead, he only spoke of maniacal laughter. "Hehehehe…" he chucked as he slipped into insanity.

Firefly lowered her weapon. "What's so funny?" she asked.

Gerald pointed to the sky, still chuckling as if he's mad. "If you want to kill me," he tells them, "you'll have to escape this dump-"

Suddenly, Firefly raised her weapon and fired upon Gerald, knocking him back as he slides across the floor. The others were startled by the sudden, unexpected noise.

"That does it," Firefly said, breathing heavily as she lowered her weapon. "Gerald's gone now."

The others were confused by why their friend has made her decision.

"Why did you pull the trigger General Firefly?" Aleena asked.

Firefly turned towards Aleena and the others. "I was getting tired of him rambling on and on about these threats," she explained. "I had enough of this cruel superintendent."

Suddenly, Gerald got up from the blast, appearing to have survived the initial blast. "You've haven't finished me yet. I'm still a-"

Firefly blasted Gerald again, startling everyone.

"That should do it," Firefly said, hoping that this might be the shot that ends it.

Miraculously, Gerald still survived the blast. He lifted himself up one final time, looking very crippled from being blasted twice. "Would you...let me...finish...my...sentence?" he groans out.

The four soldiers, tired of this cruel superintendent who decided to enact his revenge by trying to take over Columbia, all collectively said one thing. "No!" they yelled.

Chuck, Aleena, and Bow all yanked weapons from their mech suits. They then joined with Firefly in the firing squad bent on finishing off Gerald once and for all. They pelted him repeatedly with powerful laser blasts, creating burn marks on his skin and clothing. After the firing ended, Gerald slumped to the ground, never to move again.

The four soldiers lowered their weapons as the sun shines through the hole in the wall. "We've done it," Firefly announces. "The war is over."

* * *

The four soldiers exited the base of the late Gerald Robotnik, as the sun clears the sky and sweeps the stormy clouds away. A celebration awaits them in the city in the coming days to award the four who served the greatest.

"Hey, I have an idea," Bow said, something coming into his head. "Since we've gone through this war together, why don't we celebrate by marring our partners?"

"Bow, that's ridiculous," Firefly brushes it off. "What kind of person just marries their wartime partner?"

"Actually, now that I think about it," Aleena said, stopping to recall her memories of the war. "Chuck and I did form a bond in the years during the war. Ever since he rescued me, I grew a deep feeling about him."

"Aww," Chuck replies. "That's so sweet! We'd better head back into the mainland and into our old homes. I can't believe that it's been this long since I slept in my bed! Let's see if it's still fine!" He then runs off into the distance, summons his mech suit, then proceeds to fly away from the island.

"Chuck, wait for me!" Aleena yelled as she summoned her mech suit and climbed aboard it. She flies off into the distance chasing after Chuck.

Bow wraps his arm around Firefly's neck as he watches the two fly off into the distance. "Well, now we know two people who's going to be a couple," he said. "Why don't we do the same, sweetheart? Our marriage proposal is waiting."

Firefly shifted her gaze towards Bow as she lets out a puff of air. She then smiles towards him, knowing that they share some intense moments together.

* * *

The final page of the album book shows a photo of Chuck, Aleena, Bow, and Firefly all standing at the awards ceremony with metals being granted to all of them. Right next to the photo of the awards ceremony are two pictures, one for each couple. One features Bow and Firefly, Rainbow's parents. The other, right below said photo, features Chuck and Aleena. The parents of Sonic along with his siblings.

"I can't believe that you guys been through all of this in the past," Rainbow said.

Bow comforted his daughter. "It's okay, Rainbow," he says in a assuring tone. "We all have to suffer someday."

"Can't believe that our parents have some ties long before we met each other," Sonic remarks.

Aleena stood up and stands in front of Sonic and Rainbow. "Sonic, Rainbow," she said, catching their attention. "You two are our successors now. You are currently leading of friends who protected our homes at least once. You may be in a time of peace, but be warned. This peace will not last long. I see greater dangers in your future, and with your current powers gone, finding new ones is your only option. This is your chance, you two. Make us proud."

* * *

Back at the former base that was once owned by Gerald, a large round man dressed in a large red coat and is wearing tinted glasses approaches the photo of Gerald Robotnik. He then places his hand on the photo, clutching his fist with the other hand.

"Father, I will finish the promise I gave to you," he said, tumbling from the memories. "I will avenge you. I will destroy the successors to those who have taken away the life of you. I will carry on your legacy."

 **[End of Episode]**

* * *

 **From the Author:**

The Columbian War is mostly based on the events of the Sonic Saturday Morning Cartoon which first aired around 1993. In this universe, the Columbia War occurs 24 years prior in 1993 and lasted until 1996. A man named Gerald Robotnik initiated the war as revenge against those who stripped him of his superintendent position. What a petty person. He must've never learned how to deal with loss.

One of the opposing forces, the Freedom Fighters, is based on the Sonic Saturday Cartoon of the same name. They're not alone in this war against Gerald, as they are backed by several international allies. But even with loads of allies, it still took three years for the war to end to the enemy utilizing unknown technologies at the time. Thus, effective strategies were not built until three years since the war began when knowledge of how the strange technology works became available.

I won't be going very deep into the war as not much of significance happens until towards the end of the Columbian War. Also to spare me of writing such a series when getting the core story across is my main goal.

I'll leave this episode with a question. Who is that person who wants to avenge his father? Doesn't he look a bit familiar to you, especially to long time readers?

* * *

Written by TheAPPstore

Sonic the Hedgehog characters property of Sega

My Little Pony characters property of Hasbro


	7. Apple Family Reunion

**Episode 7**

 **"Apple Family Reunion"**

* * *

Preparations are being made for the annual Apple Family Reunion. It's an event where nearly all members of the Apple Family come together in one place, a day to have run and enjoy each other's company one more.

Sweet Apple Acres is the place chosen for this year's Apple Family Reunion Day, and Applejack is determined to make this as memorable as possible. Unfortunately, some bizarre events happen around the site where the reunion is being held, threatening to ruin everyone's day.

Based on the Friendship is Magic episode with the same name.

* * *

 **[Beginning of Episode]**

Applejack looks at her family's wall calendar and notices that tomorrow is the first weekend since the Spring Equinox

"Well," she said, reading through important dates until she reaches the one marked as important. "The first weekend of Spring is commin'. And you know what that means?"

She turns around to the living room where her siblings Apple Bloom and Mack are sitting.

Apple Bloom gives off a blank stare of confusion. "Uhh...what?" she asked, trying to read the calendar from her place.

Mack says nothing, waiting to see if his little sister is able to remember what important day is coming up, at least to the Apple Family.

"What? You've forgotten?" Applejack responds. "It's our annual Apple Family Reunion!"

Apple Bloom is caught by surprise at the important event that's coming up. "What? Another Apple Family Reunion?" she asked. "It felt like yesterday since it happened."

Applejack places her hand on her face, shaking her head. "Don't tell me that you've forgotten," she said. "The Apple Family Reunion is a yearly event members of the Apple Family gather together in one place. Well, at least the ones who are close to us and live in this part of the world. Truth us, we've got thousands of Apple households handling their own orchards and families, so we'll expect to see about a hundred of them to come here."

"What about Granny Smith?" Apple Bloom asks, wondering about if their grandmother will be able to come.

"Oh, right. Her," Applejack responds. She looks off towards the room that is formerly reserved for guests until Granny Smith suddenly grew tired and semi-permanently occupied the room. "That poor old lady. Last year, she's fine as a ripe old apple tree. But in the months since our last reunion, she's gotten sick. I think it's her age. She might be nearing the end of her lifespan." Applejack then averts her gaze towards the old lady, feeling concerned about her age.

"Wait," Apple Boom realizes. "Does that mean that Granny Smith will-"

"Let's not get too grim right now," Applejack reminded. "We don't want to revisit memories about our parents." She then turns directly towards Apple Bloom. "Granny Smith used to be the planner for the reunion every time the place of gathering is Sweet Apple Acres." Then she looks at Granny's room once again. "But now that she's sick and unable to leave her bed, I guess the pressure's now on me."

Mack snaps and turns towards his younger sister at the notion of taking over her grandmother as the planner for the reunion. "Wait, Applejack? Why do you get to be in charge?" he asked. "I'm the oldest children of this household. I should be in charge."

Applejack turns towards Mack. "You think you're up to the task, big brother Mack? The truth is, as she feel into sickness, Granny Smith trusted me to handle the Apple Family Reunion should the location of gathering be Sweet Apple Acres. This year, I'll get the chance to set up for the reunion, as this year's location is right here. Sweet Apple Acres.

Apple Bloom starts to feel tired about the approaching reunion. "Man, it feels so long since the last time a family reunion is get at this place," she said. "It feels like I was born at the last family reunion."

* * *

Applejack goes to the household mailbox and opens it up, only to find that it is filled to the brim with messages from other relatives. She takes them all out and brings them to the family house, where she sets them down on the coffee table. Meanwhile, Mack looks through the family's online inbox and notices that there are many more households coming from far and wide.

"Oh my," Applejack gasps after going through several letters. "We've gotten messages from relatives from all over the country that they are coming. We've got visitors from the northern highlands, the eastern deserts, the mountain foothills, the big city. We've got so many visitors that I lost count."

"This'll be a larger reunion than last year," Mack concludes. "We've gotten several more extension since last reunion."

Suddenly, someone knocks on the front door of the house, catching everyone's attention.

"Coming," Applejack said as she walked towards the door to answer it.

Waiting just outside the door is a red-headed school girl with green eyes holding an apple on her hand.

"Hey guys," the girl greeted. "Ringo here! I'm here for the Apple Family Reunion today. My first one."

Mack and Apple Bloom were confused by this girl who claims to be a member of the Apple Family.

"Wait, what?" Mack asks. "What is this stranger doing here?"

Applejack turns around to her siblings. "This isn't a stranger," she replied. "She's our relative."

"What?" Mack and Apple Bloom gasped at this revelation.

Ringo enters the house as she explains why she is here. "So, I decided to take a break for a while from Primp Academy," she explains. "Seriously. All these work and mysterious events are putting a strain on my back." She then takes a stretch. "I figure that I should take a short vacation out of the academy for the family reunion."

Applejack looks at the calendar, only to notice that the reunion isn't until tomorrow. "Ringo...what are you doing here a day early?" she asked, switching attention from Ringo and the calendar. "The reunion isn't until tomorrow!"

"I figure that I should come here for an additional day just to see how the reunion is set up," Ringo answers. "Seriously, it's been years since my parents have come to your family's-err-our family's reunion. You can blame the distance we have to travel just to come here. I came from Japan, so you can imagine how far I have to travel."

Mack looks through the list of visitors and recalls where they live. He realizes that some of them come from practically the other side of the world. "You're not along, and you're not the worst," he assures. "We've got relatives coming from farther places than Japan, and they come to the reunion annually."

"Well, guess I'm not the only one who has to travel halfway around the world just for this one event," Ringo said as she tosses and catches her apple. "So...how do we set up this reunion? I've never been to one before, at least for this family."

"How about we go through the memory book to remember the memories they this family have?" Applejack suggested, stepping towards the stairs. "Then you'll get a picture of how the reunion is run?"

"Sounds perfect," Ringo gladly accepts.

Applejack smiles. "Of course it is," she replied. "Now, wait here for a moment. I'll be going upstairs to the attic to grab the memory book from there." She then walks up the stairs into the second floor, then travels up even more stairs and a ladder to get to the attic. There, she tracks down the location where the household usually keeps the memory book and takes it out of the piles of dust and cobwebs. Then, the takes the book down out of the attic and into the first floor.

* * *

While Applejack is busy trying to find the family album, Ringo walks around the house along with Mack and Apple Bloom and notices that there are a few family members missing.

"Where's your grandmother?" Ringo asks. "Or parents for that matter?"

"Grandma Granny Smith has always taken care of us when we were growing up," Mack explains.

I can tell you that she is the strangest, most eccentric old lady you'll ever seen,

"However, since last year's family reunion, Granny's been fallen into sickness and is unable to walk on her own," Apple Bloom added. Then she turns to the former guest room, now occupied by Granny Smith. "I think her age is catching up to her."

"As for our parents..." Mack begins. Then he ponders for a moment, trying to reach deep into his memory bank. "You know what? I've forgotten a lot about my parents since Apple Bloom was born."

"Why not?" Ringo asks.

"They've been...gone for most of our lives," Applejack explains. The trio looked towards the living room and saw that Applejack there, sitting on a couch with the family photo album opened up. She doesn't look cheerful, though.

Ringo walks up and sits down next to Applejack, wondering what's gotten into her. "Applejack, you look so sad," she observes. "Why is that?"

Applejack sniffles up, wiping the tears off of her face. "It's just..." she tried to say, but found the topic to depressing to talk about during a time of family gathering. "Never mind. Forget the parents thing. Just focus on setting up for the event and don't think too much on our parents."

Ringo leans closer to take a better look at the album. "So...what should we do to set up our reunion?" she askes.

Applejack flipped through some of the pages, looking back in time to see the memories stored in these pages. "Well, the first thing we should do is do put the things that are usually there in every reunion we do," she replies. "Now, the first thing we should do is-"

Applejack then notices that Ringo is lifting the left page up. Something caught her eye there, and she is curious about that photo. Applejack, disappointed that a newcomer to the reunion is ignoring the necessities in favor of her own interest, decides to slap Ringo's arm away from the album, causing quite the disturbance in the living room.

"Whoa!" Ringo yelped as she yanked her hand away from the pages of the album. "Hey, I was just looking."

* * *

There is a picture of the family quilt, with the caption explaining its purpose. Each square represents a member of the Apple Family. A square is added every time a new member of the Apple Family was born, and one was removed for each that passed away. It was never meant to be completed.

Then, there was this picture of the time when everyone realized that baby Applejack has the appetite of a grown man. Apple fritters are a traditional food item prepared by the Apples, for the Apples. During one reunion, uncle placed a plate full of them on the table, only to notice that all of the fritters are gone. Upon looking under the table, he found the baby Applejack, who ate them all.

Then there was the Tri-Legged race, where two pairs tie their legs together and race for the finish. Granny Smith used to play this game with her cousins, and never won a single one of those.

Pretty normal stuff for a reunion.

* * *

During the night, Applejack stayed up sitting at her bed looking at the family album. She is deciding what to include in this year's reunion, as evident by the piles of paper stacked up besides her.

As she is working, Ringo enters the room, yawning from tiredness.

"Applejack, what are you doing here in the middle of the night?" Ringo asks, yawning.

Applejack ponders for a moment. "I've been thinking, Ringo," she said. "This reunion might be a bit more than I was expecting. I was entrusted this ability by Granny Smith. But all I got is this pile of idea about what to do."

Ringo lets out a smile as she sits down on the bed next to Applejack. "Oh, Applejack," she said. "You might not be able to fir everything at once. Just try to include the necessary stuff first. Other things go second. This is your first time planning out a reunion. Just don't go overboard."

"It's okay, Ringo," Applejack replies. "I'll try."

Ringo giggles as she is assured that this'll be just like any other reunion. "Sweet dreams," she blessed as she stands up and leaves the room.

Applejack lets out a smile as well. "You too," she replies.

Ringo closes the door and Applejack is back at work. While she is trying to figure out what else to include, behind her back outside, a single lone slime falls out of the sky.

* * *

Morning dawns on the orchards of Sweet Apple Acres, and it seems like there are several supplies waiting for the organizers outside. Apple Bloom, Mack, and Ringo all slept peacefully as they all prepare to wake up. Just as they're about to wake up, a loud cowbell rings outside, startling everyone into a state of wakefulness. Except for Granny Smith, who still continued to sleep peacefully.

"Rise and shine, folks!" Applejack calls as she rings on the cowbell. "It's time to set up for the reunion!"

Apple Bloom, Mack, and Ringo all exited the barn looking tired and not prepared for the day ahead.

Apple Bloom clears her eyes as she is exposed to the bright sunlight. "I feel so tired now," she complains. "More tired than last night!"

Mack almost tripped on a rock on the path and slumped to a nearby fencepost. "I think I'm feeling...dizzy..." he said, holding on to his head.

"Just when I was about to end my sleep cycle," Ringo said.

Applejack claps her hands as she calls for everyone to gather around her. "Alright, everyone," she said. "The reunion's starting in a few hours. I saved you some of the effort by having all the supplies here and ready. But the decorations and tables have not been set up. We'd better work as fast as we can before the first relatives arrive."

Apple Bloom leaned on a fence post, feeling exhausted from being suddenly woken up. "Please sis..." she groans out. "Could you at least give us a rest?"

"We can rest later, Apple Bloom," Applejack said. "Let's get working, everybody!"

Applejack's got all the supplies for the reunion ready and right outside. Except for the apples. Naturally, that means that the Apple Family has to run inside and retrieve some of the preserved apples and get them outside. The apples are stored in barrels, meaning that they have to be rolled out. Ringo attempts to help, but found the barrel to heavy to move, forcing Mack to come in and help her out.

So instead, Ringo tries to help out with the decorations that really sell that this is a reunion. She grabs a stool and brings them to the desired place. She frequently fell when setting up the decorations, mostly because she's never done this before.

Meanwhile, Applejack runs around the orchard setting up arrow signs and ribbons. It looks like she is planning some sort of race. After she's finished, she then sets up a apple bobbing event, a staple in the Apple Family.

With the decorations and the reunion all set up, it is time to set up the banner. Ringo does the task of doing that, this time she is holding on to the pole as she is being lifted up by Mack. She reaches into the hook, snags the string onto it and lets go. The reunion has finally been set up.

"Well, everything's finished just in time," Applejack announce. " We should be getting our first visitors right about..." She then looks off into the distance, only to see a dust cloud being kicked up. "...Now."

"That usually happens?" Ringo asks as she got down. "They come here as soon as we're done with the decorations?"

"Our relatives usually wait just outside the orchards until the host location is done with the decorations," Applejack explains. "It is rude to enter a celebration before the organizers are prepared."

Suddenly, an slime fell out of the sky and slammed on Applejack's head, knocking her hat down on her face.

"Ow!" Applejack yelped.

Ringo turns around and look at Applejack's feet. There, there is a red slime that's laying there. "Huh?" she said. "Where did that slime come from?"

Applejack lifts her hat up and adjusts it. "I don't know," she said. "I think it fell right out of the sky." She then looks up at the sky, only to find nothing. "Huh? There's no flying objects flying over us? Weird..."

Soon, the main area of the farm is crowded with relatives. As soon as they arrive, they are taking to each other after being separated for possibly a long time. Some are hugging each other and others are updating each other on recent events.

Apple Bloom looks around as she found herself surrounded by relatives. She seems overwhelmed by the amount of them that are here. "Wow, I don't remember this family having so many relatives," she said. "This farm is jammed pack with them." From behind her, someone tapped on her shoulder, prompting her to turn around. "Huh? Who is there?"

Apple Bloom turns around and sees a cousin, with skin a little darker than hers and with some lighter colored streaks in her hair. She says nothing as she waves hello to Apple Bloom, trying her hardest to pull off a smiles.

Apple Boom was confused. She remembered who this cousin was, but not her name. "Excuse me?" she replied, unable to recall this cousin's name.

The cousin then speaks up. "You don't remember me, do you?" she said. "Fine. Name's Babs Seed. Just here for the reunion." She then offers a handshake, turning her body away from her cousin.

Apple Bloom then kindly accepts the handshake, though without breaking out a smile. "Yeah, sorry if I forget about you," she admitted. "It's kind of hard to keep track of everyone when there's so many relatives to remember. Hey, mind if you tell me what's happening recent-"

Apple Bloom is cut when Applejack comes in an interrupts them.

"Alright, youngsters," she announced. "Time to have some fun at the race course I set up." She then starts to push Babs and Apple Bloom towards the location of the start line.

"Wait!" Apple Bloom yelled. "But, shouldn't we catch up with each other first?"

Applejack stops pushing and allows the youngsters to walk on their own. "You can have some bonding times while you're racing," she said.

"But, what about focusing?" Apple Bloom asked, looking more worried about bonding with relatives.

"Just work on short converstions with long breaks between interactions," Applejack told them. "Well, relatively long, actually. You get the point. Now, let's move on!"

Apple Bloom and Babs looked at each other as they wonder what's going on with Applejack today. She doesn't seem very concerned with bonding time, only being more concerned with setting up events within the reunion that will create memories.

* * *

Apple Bloom, Babs, and several of the kids in the Apple Family all gathered up together at the start of the orchard race around the farm. In the distance on some hills, some flag markers are visible marking each leg of the race. Since this is a Tri-Legged race, that means that cousins pair up and tie one of their legs together.

Babs looks off into the hills, seeing that the footrace is way longer than it seems. "Uhh…" she said. "That's...kind of...excessive...for a footrace..."

Apple Bloom then turns towards nearby Applejack, wondering how she set it all up in one morning. "You set all this up all morning long?" she asked. "We were wondering where you went."

"Well, I had to include some traditional tasks for this reunion," Applejack said. "This being one of them. Fair warning. This race is a bit longer than the previous races of the last several reunions, so don't expect this thig to be easy."

Apple Bloom scoffs as she rolls her eyes.

Applejack then pulls out a black and white checkerboard flag and holds it out in front of the racers. "Alright, y'all," she announces. "Let's get going. Hope you make some memories." She then raises the flag high into the air. "On your marks, get set...go!" She then flicks the flag down, prompting everyone to race. However, one of the pairs messed up their start and tripped before they even got past the starting line.

Then Applejack got something to cross her head. "Oh. Better check on those apple fritters," she said. "It's nearly lunch time." She then runs off to the dining area.

Nearby Mack uses this opportunity to take a photo to remember that moment where someone tripped just after the race started.

Meanwhile, Ringo is looking a bit worried about how the reunion is going. "Umm, do you think that Applejack is taking things...you know...a little to far?" she asked.

Mack lowers the camera. "I think she is," he said as the pair who fell got back up and continued with the race. "I'm not sure that twelve-year-olds are equipped to handle a strain like that." Moments after he finished, yet another slime has fallen down, this time on this head. Much to the surprise of Ringo. "Ow!" Mack then rubs the spot where the slime it his head.

Ringo steps away from the slime as her eyes widen at this strange event. "What the-?" she gaped. "Another slime has fallen? Oh, this doesn't look good. I'll be losing my appetite for gelatin foods at this rate."

* * *

Near the cooking pots, some of the Apples are making some apple fritters, all while talking to each other about the old memories they gained during the reunions.

One of the Apples spoke up to the others about one of those moments. She turned to the other cooks and spoke to them. "So there is this moment where Aunt Rose is cooking up some food and then her dentures fell out and into the cooking pot itself!" she said, catching the attention of the others. 'We spent the entire day looking for those dentures and by the time we found them, it was already too late. Also, the dentures was cooked."

The other Apples had a chuckle as they recall that moment. "Oh yeah," one of them replied. "I remember that."

Then, Applejack came in to check on the food production. "Having fun yet gals?" she asked as she stepped in. The other gals nodded. Then Applejack looked at the places full of apple fritters and noticed that there might not be enough for everyone to enjoy one. "Well, you better pick up the pace," she told them. "We want enough food to serve every last relative."

One of the relatives looked at the table where some of the Apples are enjoying a serving of apple fritters. "But...isn't that enough?" she points out.

Applejack walked towards the preparations table as she cleaned her hands. "You'll do the same process except speed it up a little bit," she told. "Like this." In nearly record time, Applejack grabbed a slice of apple and a lump of dough, rolled them up into a sphere and set it aside. She made the apple fritter much faster than what the gals are doing. "Now you try." She then steps down from the preparations table.

The gals looked at each other and give a shrug. They then got to work on those apple fritters, preparing them much faster than before. This does prevent them from talking to each other, however.

"That's it, gals!" Applejack said, encouraging the gals to keep on going at this pace. "Now, try to keep it up for a while." She then steps away from the dining area, but not before snagging a serving of apple fritter and taking a bite out of it.

Meanwhile, Ringo and Mack are standing by as Ringo calculated the amount of servings they will produce over the whole day.

"...That's a lot of servings per Apple relative," Ringo noted. Then she turns to Mack. "Are you sure this is enough?"

Mack ponders for a moment, recalling the appetite of each of the Apples. "Well, there are some of use who are a lot hungier than others,' he replies. Just ask baby Applejack. Besides..." he then takes another look at the gals as they create a pile of uncooked apple fritters. "Yeah that's a little excessive."

While the gals are working on those apple fritters, a green slime fell down and tore through the roof of the stand. The gals are freaking out by the sudden appearance.

"Ahh!" one of them screamed. "A fallen slime!"

Everyone aside from Ringo and Mack began to run away from the dining area as the green slime chills out on the table.

"And again," Ringo observes. "Another fallen slime."

Mack scratches his head in confusion. "What is going on here?" he asked. "Who's causing all of this?"

* * *

Apple Bloom and Babs Seed are just about to finish the race together, becoming neck and neck with their other cousins. They seem pretty exhausted by this point, having expended all of their energy into this race.

Just to add insult to injury, on the final stretch of the race, a yellow slime fell down and landed right on top of Apple Bloom, knocking her head down and making her fall. She brings Babs down with her.

Babs got up and immediately checked on Apple Bloom, inspecting the bruise on her head. "You okay, Apple Bloom?" she asked. "That slime just hit you hard!"

Apple Bloom lifted her face off the ground, looking very injured from both the fallen slime and falling to the ground. "My face..." she groans.

Somewhere in the farm, a contestant is ready to bob for apples, when all of a sudden, a purple slime fell down right on the tub used for bobbing apples. "Ahh!" everyone screamed as they ran away from the tub.

While everyone is panicking and not paying attention to the sky, Applejack walks around the farm looking at all the falling slime. "Uhh…" she groans. "This is getting strange. Something crashin' into my family's reunion."

Then, a slime fell on Applejack's head, sticking to it. Applejack yelps and runs as she tries to get it off her head. "Ahh! It's on my head!" she screams as she ran around, swiping at the slime. "Get it off! Get it off!"

Somewhere within the orchard, Ringo is pushing a lone blue slime with a shovel, looking for a place to put it,

"Ugg...where did I put that pile of blues?" Ringo said, looking around the area. Then she looks away for a few seconds and turns back to the shovel, only to find that several more slimes have landed right on top of the blue slime she is pushing. "Oh, for the love of apple worms!" she yelled in frustration.

* * *

Meanwhile, somewhere outside Sweet Apple Acres, several members of both Team Sonic and The Rainbooms watch from the roof of a building as they witness a rainfall of slime falling on top of Sweet Apple Acres.

"We're experiencing some bizarre weather patterns over Sweet Apple Acres today," Manic said as he took down the binoculars.

"Should we come in and help them out?" Pinkie suggested.

Several of the members looked at each other. They can only agree on one thing.

"Nah," they all replied.

"What?" Pinkie asked, confused by their decision. "You're saying that we should not help?"

"Those slime are nothing more than a nuisance," Sonic replied, pointing his thumb towards the rain of slimes in the distance. "I'm sure that the hundred of so relatives will be able to handle this."

"And besides," Rainbow added. "This isn't our problem. It's hers. If Applejack can handle this on her own, why should she need help from us?"

* * *

Slimes continue to fall on Sweep Apple Acres as all the relatives run around screaming and panicking. The ground is soon covered in slimes, and people are tripping on them at every inch of the farms.

Amidst the chaos, Ringo approaches Applejack while covering her head from all the slimes. Applejack is looking like she could burst into a fury of frustration at the wrong word.

"Hey Applejack," Ringo greeted as some slimes bumped her arm. "Don't you get the feeling that today's weather is..." She then looks around and up to the sky. "Bizzare?"

Applejack shifts her eyes towards Ringo with frustration as the reunion isn't going as planned. "I can clearly see it," she replied. Then she looks up at the falling slimes with eyes. "It's raining slime today. Slimes with...eyes, of all things."

Another slime landed next to Ringo, catching her attention. "Oh. Those are Puyos," she explains. "They might be powerless by themselves, but together, they become powerful. Match them up, and your powers are boosted as they disappear into thin air." She then looks around, trying to see if there is an outsource for the power given by the Puyos. There isn't. "However, since we aren't dealing with any monsters or anything like that, they're nothing more than nusience."

"Oh, they called Puyos?" Applejack asks, looking around at her feet. "Man, if only they could come during that battle with that guardian. Well, this can't get any worse, right?"

Despite the constant rain of Puyos, Applejack remains untouched by the Puyos. That is, until one manages to land on her head just after she mention that things couldn't get any worse. A cloud of anger fills up Applejack as she starts to lose it.

Ringo shifts her eyes away, chucking at the timing. "So...that's the reunion for you," she chuckled. "Hehe..."

Applejack does not see the funny side of this. She is so annoyed over these slimes with eyes that she can't hold on the anger any longer. "ENOUGH!" she screams, which stopped everyone around her. They continued to get pelted with Puyos as they stand there. "This is getting too much for me to handle. It's getting too annoying for all of us to tolerate. I was expecting a huge mind-blowing event that won't be forgettable. Instead, I got this mess." She then lets out an angry sigh. "How are we going to create any memories with these things around?"

Ringo then gets curious. "Hold on," she said. "Did these things happen to your family before in any reunions?"

Applejack shook her head, calming down. "Uhh...no," she responded, looking around and trying to recall. "I don't remember seeing something like this in any of the previous reunions."

Ringo gets excited as the sea of Puyos reaches the midpoint of their calf. "This could be a great opportunity to create a memory of this event!" she said. "Look at this! Tell me what you see." She grabs Applejack by the neck and presents the view with her arms.

Applejack looks around the farm just as the rain of Puyos stops. All she could see are her family members trying to figure out how to get rid of these Puyos. "I see family members having a rough day all because of these slime things called Puyos," she responded brutally.

Ringo lets her arm drop as she frowns. "Whoa. That'll be a rough memory," she said. Then something came into her head. "But...if we clean this up ourselves, we'll remember this year as the year we recovered from a setback!"

Applejack was surprised by this idea. "Really?" she said. "Are you sure that this'll work?"

"We'll just have to wait and see," Ringo answered.

* * *

The Apples gathered into one place as they continue to look at the Puyos.

"Urg!" Apple Bloom grunted. "These slimes, they are infuriating us!"

"They're messing up the whole reunion!" Babs added.

"How are we going to get rid of them?" Mack asks.

On the second floor balcony, Ringo taps a microphone she set up a few minutes earlier, calling the attention of everyone.

"Attention all Apples!" Ringo announces, silencing everyone as they turn towards her. "These strange slime things that are plaguing our reunion are known as Puyos. While they look intimidating at first due to their sheer numbers, they are actually really easy to get rid of them. All you have to do is to match four of the same color together. Then, they'll disappear." Ringo makes arm movements that empathizes with the actions she is calling for them to do.

Apple Bloom looks at a lone blue Puyo, and then looks up to see a pile of three blue Puyo, connected together. "You mean like this?" she asked, kicking the blue Puyo into the pile of three Puyo. As soon as the four blues connect, they stop in midair and vanish into air.

Ringo gets excited by this. "Yeah! That's it!" she responds. "Now keep going!"

Several more relatives then join in on the act and started to clean up the farm of Puyos. They collect three Puyos of the same color and then knocked a fourth of the same color into the pile of three. And then, the pile disappears. Some relatives even managed to set up the Puyos in a way that makes another pile of same-colored Puyo to disappear, creating a chain which clears the Puyo even faster.

Ringo gets pumped up and keeps on encouraging the relatives to keep up the pace. "Ha! Now they're clearing up," she said. "Keep it up, everyone. There's still more to make disappear!"

More and more relatives jump in to clear the Puyos, setting them up in ways that started a chain. Over time, the piles of Puyo become smaller and smaller, turning from a pile of what seems to be hundreds of thousands into nearly nothing. All within a couple of hours. With over a hundred relatives clearing up the Puyos together, the farm is cleared up after over two hours of work.

Once those two hours of cleaning up are over, everyone stops to catch their breath. "Phew!" Applejack said, wiping the sweat off of her head. "That'll be a year to remember. Something crashed our reunion as we're enjoying it, but we cleaned up the mess that they created."

Everyone cheered as the Puyo mess is over. They can now continue on with their reunion as usual.

Ringo hands over the microphone to Applejack to congratulate everyone with the work that they did. "Good job, everyone," she announces. "This'll be a moment that is worthy of a family picture. Sadly, Granny Smith along with the other elderly relatives who are absent will not be featured in this year's photo, but at least we did something memorable in their absence."

No Apple Family Reunion would be complete without a family photo in front of the place they're all gather in. In Sweet Apple Acres' case, its in front of the barn. While everyone gathers in their usual places, Ringo is placed front and center along with Applejack, Mack, and Apple Bloom. She's placed there for her contributions in solving the problem at hand.

* * *

The reunion continues for a few more hours until sundown. By this point, everyone is packing up, ready to go home.

"Bye everyone," Applejack waves along with her siblings as the relatives leave. "We'll see you next year...or earlier." She then drops her hand. "Man, today just took an unexpected turn."

Ringo then walked up behind the Apple siblings. "Yeah, I know," she replied. "All these Puyos just showed up and almost ruined everything."

"Good thing that they can be easily removed," Apple Bloom said.

Ringo turns to Applejack as she gets ready to leave. "Well, Applejack, I hope to see you and your family someday within the next year," she said.

Applejack smiles to her cousin from far away. "You too Ringo," she said.

Ringo smiles back as well. "Oh, and before I leave, I have to tell you something," she said. Before Applejack could ask, Ringo placed her hand on Applejack's shoulder and tell her something she should keep in mind. "Please cut down on the absurdity of the events within the reunion. Reunions are meant for a time of family bonding, not as an event where crazy things can happen. The only exceptions are that Puyo incident or that time where an elderly lady accidentally lost her dentures when trying to cook."

Applejack tilts her head. "Oh, really?"

Ringo nodded in response. "Yeah," she replied. Then she makes her way out of the farm, waving goodbye to the Apple siblings. "Bye everyone!"

"See you next reunion," Applejack says as she waves goodbye. Apple Bloom and Mack returned to their house.

Applejack then turns around and gets ready to head back inside. As she turns, she caught something moving in the trees. She turns her head, only to found nothing there the next time her gaze passes through that place. "Huh?" she said, confused. "I swear I saw something moving in the forest."

Applejack then shrugs it off and continues on back inside her home. As she closes the door, two shooting stars flew across the evening sky, landing someplace behind Sweet Apple Acres.

 **[End of Episode]**

* * *

 **From the Author:**

This episode is named after the Friendship is Magic episode of the same name. So, naturally, you think that the events would follow that episode very closely. Well, not in this case. Things turn from Applejack learning about what makes something memorable into something about a thing messing up the whole reunion. Bet you saw that one coming as soon as a slime fell of Applejack.

I produced most of the dialogue for this episode while I was at a reunion I had with my family, so consider this a coincidental episode production.

Next episode will be the start of the arc that introduces the fourteenth main character of the series. Stay tuned for that.

* * *

Written by TheAPPstore

Sonic the Hedgehog characters property of Sega

My Little Pony characters property of Hasbro

Cameo from Puyo Puyo, property of Sega


	8. Prelude to the Games

**Episode 8**

 **"Prelude to the Games"**

* * *

Months past, and nothing unusual seems to happen between Team Sonic and the Rainbooms. That is, until the Columbia Games Junior League starts to dawn in on them.

Preparations are being made as the two teams experience their first major adventure in quite some time. Rivals are returning, big events are coming, and everyone's heart is racing as the day that the event begins draws closer and closer.

However, it seems evident that this year the Junior League of the Columbia Games might be their last, due to waning public interest, low amount of funding, and one particular school who won't stop crushing all its competitors.

* * *

 **[Beginning of Episode]**

The morning sun rises above Canterlot High School as summer approaches. It's going to be a warm and exciting day for everyone, and not just because of the weather. There's a special annual event that's going to happen, and preparations are in full force as that day approaches.

Early in the morning, a mysterious girl, dressed in a cyan hooded sweatshirt, purple plaid skirt, and calf-length socks sneaks around the campus. She looks around, seeing if she is safe to enter.

"Okay, the path is clear today," the girl says. "Good thing that there's no one around here to catch me trespassing on the campus." She then takes an eye towards the rearing house statue placed at the front of the front courtyard. "The site of the first monster battle, we meet again." She gets out of her hiding place and takes out a strange scientific device. It appears to be reacting to something. "After two months of waiting, its time to put this FR scanner into use once again. This should be my last data point I will collect for this investigation."

She then activates the device by twisting on the knob, and almost immediately, it spits out numbers.

The girl reads the data that's been collected. "Hmm, radiation levels are lower this time around," she observes. "As expected. Now, based on my previous measurements I took two months ago, I can tell that a major battle was fought here eight months ag-"

"Hey!" another girl yelled as she spotted the trespasser.

"What?" the girl said, looking around the campus. "Who said that?"

The girl who called out the trespasser was none other than Rainbow Dash. Waking up early due to the sun shining on her face in the morning, she decided to visit school just to see what its like before the school day begins. While doing so, she catches someone snooping around.

"What are you doing trespassing the school's campus you foreigner?" Rainbow asks.

The trespassing girl gasped in surprise. "Oh no!" she said. Then she turns off her FR scanner and makes a run for it straight down the street.

Rainbow tried to cross the street, chasing after the trespassing girl. Then, unexpectedly, a bus comes speeding in, blocking Rainbow's path. The trespasser crosses the street just as the bus passes. She stopped the bus and hopped inside. The bus then leaves towards the urban core of Canterlot City. When the bus left, Rainbow was angered that the trespasser she caught has escaped.

"Hey! Come back!" Rainbow yelled at the escaping bus. But it was too late. It was already too far away for her to do anything. Rainbow stomps on the ground in frustration. "Grr," she growls, "just when I thought my day couldn't be better, I catch a trespasser and let that person escape!" She then hit herself in the arm. "Stupid me. I'll never become a police officer if I keep letting criminals escape."

The trespassing girl then takes off her hood, revealing her face as she lets out a sigh of relief. The girl has dark blue hair with purple and magenta streaks. Her other physical features are also mostly in the purples, with light mulberry skin and purple eyes. She is wearing glasses to help with her vision problems, and to look smart. This is Twilight Sparkle, the next generation of the Sparkle Clan. Pinned on her hairband is a rose colored six pointed star, the symbol of the Sparkle Clan.

"Well, at least I got enough data for something conclusive," Twilight said, looking at her device. "Now its time to analyze these readings and piece together the timeline of these events."

* * *

Rainbow then decides to run back home and call up her friend Sonic about the mysterious girl she spotted earlier.

"What happened, Rainbow?" Sonic asked after hearing something that Rainbow said.

"I caught someone on the campus of Canterlot High without permission from the principal," Rainbow answered, breathing heavily into the phone.

Something then its Sonic as he recalls something similar that he saw before at Emerald High. "Oh, that?" he asked. Then he starts to walk around. "I swear I saw someone else doing just that the other day when I arrived at school early because my mom has a meeting with some parents." He then lets out a sigh of disappointment. "Unfortunately, I couldn't catch that person in time," he said. "I don't know where that person's heading off into."

Rainbow presses the phone harder on her head. "Do you think its the same person?"

Sonic stops to recall his memories. "Well, I saw that person waltzing around the campus taking in some measurements of some sorts," he said.

Rainbow slams her hands down on the table, reaching a conclusion. "That must be the exact same person!" she concluded. "Tell me, what was their jacket like? I remember seeing a cyan sweat jacket and-"

"Wait, cyan sweat jacket?" Sonic asked, recalling something like that. "You mean...a sweatshirt? I saw the exact same thing."

Rainbow is shocked by this. She can't believe it. "What? Seriously?" she gasped.

Sonic ponders as he continues to walk around. The dots all seem to connect. The color of the sweatshirt, the behavior, the fact that they're trespassing. It just had to be it. "They must be the same person," he concluded. "It had to be. I mean, the clothes, the device, and that strange behavior-"

Rainbow is starting to sweat from the intensity of this call. She is nearing the answer to this, when suddenly, her father came along and noticed that she is sweating.

"Rainbow Dash, why does it look like you are freaking out?" Bow asked, observing her tense and sweating behavior.

Rainbow snaps and tosses the phone between her hands. Upon catching it, she explains what is going on, her voice trembled by her heavy breathing. "Well, it's because of..." The intensity couldn't get any higher. "...Something I saw earlier this morning," she finishes explaining.

Sonic is confused by the muffled conversation that is going on. Sweat is coming down his face as he awaits his friend to respond. "Rainbow?" he asked. No response after a few seconds. He tries again. "Rainbow?" Nothing happens again. Sonic is starting to freak out. He tries yet again, this time crying into the phone. "Rainbow, please answer my call. I don't want to be left alone!"

"Sonic!" Aleena shouted from behind him, starting him out. He then turns towards his mother. "Chill out already. You might want a calm mind if you want to participate for the Columbia Games.

Something came into Sonic's mind, and became stuck. "Wait...games?" he asked. Then the phone call ends. Sonic looks down and realizes that its too late. "Oh no!" He then rushes into the keypad, typing in Rainbow's number. "I got to tell Rainbow about this-"

Aleena had enough of Sonic's state of stress and slaps Sonic's arms just as he was typing his friend's number. "Sonic! Relax already!" she yelled, berating her son. "You're feeling stressed out over a faraway friend."

Sonic rubs his arms as he looks at the phone.

"And besides," Aleena brings up to remind Sonic not to worry. "Your friend Rainbow Dash is going to find out what's going on from other sources. Like Principal Celestia. There's no need to panic."

Sonic's breathing rate slowed down as he is assured that Rainbow would be caught up without his help. After all, Canterlot High is one of the last remaining schools still participating in the Columbia Games Junior League, along with Emerald High, Diamond Secondary, and Crystal Academy. At this point, Principal Celestia knows the event and can explain it to Rainbow.

One of these four participating schools is crushing the competition, and Emerald High School along with two others keeps getting crushed despite their efforts to top them down.

* * *

Right before the school day even begins, Rainbow enters Celestia's office to report that someone that doesn't attend the school was seen snooping around for some unknown reason.

"Someone was snooping around on campus without my permission?" Celestia asked after hearing Rainbow's report.

Rainbow nodded. "Yes, Principal Celestia," she confirms. "I caught someone snooping around this morning."

Celestia straightened some papers and set them aside. She leans a bit closer to Rainbow. "Well, uhh, did you see what they look like?" she asked, curious about the trespasser.

Rainbow shook her head, disappointing Celestia. "I didn't see their face," she replies. Then she recalls what she saw. "I only remember what they are wearing. And where they're heading off to."

The trespasser's destination is much more important to Celestia than the exact clothing they are wearing. She asks Rainbow this. "Well, did you see where they are heading off into?"

Rainbow looks out the window towards the skyscrapers in the distance, remembering the bus the snooping trespasser took was heading off to there. "Well, the bus they took was heading towards the city core," she answered.

Celestia stopped as she realized something. All of the schools in the district are pretty far from the urban core. The closest high school to the urban core was their long time rival. She reaches a conclusion. "I knew it," she said. "Those Crystal Academy students are at it again."

"Yeah, that's-" Rainbow agreed, before stopping herself at the unfamiliar school name. "Wait, what? Are you serious?" Rainbow was confused about what's going on.

"Have you forgotten? Or did you not read the calendar?" Celestia asked, suspicious that Rainbow has not been caught up with the weekly or monthly bulletin. "The Columbia Games is starting shortly. We are set in the Junior League, along with our long time rivals." She then looks off into the urban core visible from her office window. "Crystal Prep Academy."

Rainbow is left scratching her head. "I don't understand," she said. "What is the Columbia Games?"

"You don't pay enough attention to our calendar, have you?" Celestia asked as she stood up and walk towards the archive cabinet. She pulls out a binder containing information about the annual events. She opened it up to the Columbia Games section and places it in front of Rainbow for her to read. "Here," she said. "Have this archive and flip over to the events section. You'll see what I mean. Now flip though this book as I explain the event."

Celestia walked around the office as she explains to Rainbow the Columbia Games and how one school's constant victories have potentially doomed the event itself, at least the Junior League.

"The Columbia Games is a annual tournament set between various educational establishments across Columbia," Celestia explains. "There are three leagues in the Columbia Games. There's the Junior League, consisting of mostly high schools. That's us right there. Then there's the Middle League, consisting of collages and universities. Older students come together to compete. And then, there's the Senior League, where all major sports teams come together and compete. Only professional players are allowed to partisipate, due to their high stakes and skill ceiling."

Rainbow turned towards the picture taken at the very first Columbia Games, where the students that are representing Canterlot High are featured. They stand in front of the school, cheering as they were about to be set on the road to potential success.

"Each League competes at a different date," Celestia continues to explain. "The Junior League is usually set in late May, the Middle League in June, and the Senior League during the summer months of early to late July. As you can see, it takes place over a long period of time, close to the end of the school year and bleeding into summer break."

Rainbow turns the page to find all of the schools which have participated in the very first of the Columbia Games. Going down the list of the schools participating in the Junior League, she found Canterlot High. Among the several participating schools are Emerald High and Crystal Academy. One of them was the school which the friends from the south attended. The other was her school's greatest rival.

Next to the school names is a star, indicating which school have won the Columbia Games overall. Rainbow didn't care about who won. She paid attention to Crystal Academy, curious and suspicious about what's going on.

"The Columbia Games has been going on since 1988," Celestia continued, "and has since been going on every year with the exception of the years between 1993 and 1996 due to the Columbian War that is going on. However, in recent years, while the other two leagues are doing just fine, the Junior League has been stagnating. Since 2002, the school Crystal Prep Academy, based in Canterlot City, has been winning every single year. At first, it seems exciting. After all, who doesn't want to see a win-streak? But over time, people became tried of the Junior League of the games."

Rainbow flipped through the pages of the participating schools, paying attention to the Junior League list. At first, it looks fine. Then from 2005 onwards, Rainbow got worried as she saw the same school being crowned the winner for several years straight. Also, she noticed that as the years progressed and Crystal Academy got a higher and high win-streak, the list of participating schools in the Junior League shrank.

"As Crystal Academy dominated the scoreboards, public interest has waned down," Celestia explains, recalling the previous few years. "As the years went on and Crystal Academy continued to win year after year, schools began to boycott participating the events due to not wanting to invest time and effort into a meaningless task. They aren't going to win so why bother? Funding has also dropped, meaning that the games are not as extravagant as the other two leagues. Soon, there are only four schools remaining who still participate in the games, all of whom has been participating since its inception. Canterlot High, Emerald High. Diamond Secondary, and Crystal Academy. The most persistent of these is Diamond Secondary School, who has been consistent placed in the lower rankings yet they still participate. Those poor students, when will they ever learn to give up?"

Rainbow flipped the pages over to 2015, the most recent year that the games have taken place. There, on the Junior League column, are four names. Canterlot High, Emerald High, Diamond Secondary, and Crystal Academy. Rainbow looked back through the pages back to the first Columbia Games and found these four names on the list.

"This year's games might just be the last," Celestia said, a feeling of worried being passed by her words, "as we've only got enough funds to support the games built for twelve people. Three students from each school. After that, the Junior League is no more. Also, Crystal Academy has taken the habit of gloating after they win, making their victories infuriating."

At the exact moment, Rainbow turns to some random page and discovers several pictures of Crystal Academy students vandalizing the property of each of the schools they've beaten. Those poor custodians who had to clean that mess up...

Rainbow closes the archive binder, sighing heavily in sadness. "Wow. That's just depressing," she commented. "I mean, I wanted a win-streak that reaches high into the leaderboards, but I know that eventually that my streak will end one day, due to a mistake that I made." She looks away for a moment. "That's something that will happen someday." She then looks back at the binder, disgusted by what was going on. "This...this is just plain ridiculous." Rainbow then set out a frustrated sigh. "So...about these students who are chosen to represent their school...how do they get in?"

Celestia sits down and leans closer to Rainbow with a feeling of encouragement. "Well, Miss Dash," she said, "all you have to do is to show enough school spirit and do well enough on both academics and athletics. By then, you'll be put on the list of representatives for this school. But don't do anything yet. We'll make an exception for this one year." Celestia then asserts herself as she prepares to tell Rainbow an important announcement. "Rainbow Dash, as the leader of a group of defenders, you're going to represent us in the Columbia Games."

Rainbow was stunned by this. "What?" she gasped, unable to believe that this is happening. "Seriously?"

Celestia leans forward and brushes Rainbow's hair with a smile. "I've been watching you for some time, and I know that you're the best that this school has to offer," she told her. "You're so passionate, you've done well on both academics and athletics. You can do this, Rainbow Dash. You and eight other chosen students will take down Crystal Academy. For you school, and for all of us. Show the world that there is still some fighting spirit left in us, even after countless defeats. Show those Crystal Academy students what we're made of."

Rainbow was left without anything to say after the encouraging speech that Celestia made to her. "...I'm...speechless, Principal Celestia," she said. Then she looks to the south. "But...what about the other schools?"

"I talked with Sonic's mother last night, begging her to choose Sonic as the first slot along with two of his friends," Celestia answered, surprising Rainbow. :Let's hope that this plan works out."

* * *

At lunch, Sonic's not in the mood to have some lunch. He spent the whole day wondering who that mysterious person is. He swears that he spotted them doing some strange things in the area that was the site of a battle. Something about it just ticks Sonic off.

"I can't get that image of the stranger off of my head," he admits to his friends, without any of them asking what's wrong. "Just...who is that person and what are they doing snooping around a school that they don't attend?"

The other friends stopped chewing and stared at Sonic, wondering what's going on.

"Huh?" Miles asked, half-swallowing his food.

Knuckles didn't catch that. So he leans closer with his hand behind his ear. "What?" he asks.

That's when it hits Sonic. "Oh, sorry," he apologizes. "You weren't there at the time, weren't you?"

The others shook their head. "Nope," most of them said, with Manic remaining silent and preferring to poke at his food for a moment.

Sonic sighs, going back to that mysterious person. "Well," he sighs out, "guess that image of that person will keep on bothering me for the rest of my life." He then fidgetily taps on the table.

The others stared at Sonic and then went back to eating.

"Attention students of Emerald High," Principal Aleena's voice said over the intercom, silencing everyone and grabbing their attention. "As you may know from reading our school calendar, we will be participating in the Columbia Games Junior League, and maybe for the last time. Mainly because of Crystal Academy." Things went negative at first before Aleena switched back to being positive. "However, we still got some fighting spirit left in us, thanks to several heroic students who stood up against dangerous threats. These three will be the lucky ones who will represent our beloved school."

This sends the students into a talk, with some of them looking at Team Sonic, knowing that they are the former rangers that once protected their homes when danger comes around. The question is, which three will be participating? The number of participating students has gone down since last year due to the budget for the Junior League reaching a critical low. With three members out of a pool of seven, which three members will be lucky enough to join in?

Manic nearly tossed his food as he is shocked by this. "Whoa!" he gasped, almost falling off his seat as he leans back. "What is Principal Aleena saying?"

Knuckles, who has attended this school a year prior-him being a year older than the rest of the team members-scratches his head in confusion over the choice. "Three students?" he asked. "Weren't there six chosen last time?"

Espio shifted his eyes towards Knuckles to remind him of something. "They had to cut it down the number of students they will be sending due to budget constraints," he replied. "Public support has reached critical lows since that Crystal Academy gained a win-streak of three or more."

Finally, Principal Aleena announces the ones who will be participating in the Columbia Games Junior League. "Students of Emerald High," she announces, rallying everyone up. "We'd like you to cheer for...Sonic Rush!"

Nearly the entire lunchroom is sent into a cheering frenzy as Sonic was shocked that he himself was chosen. He blinked for a moment, trying to check if this is a dream he's having. "...She choose me?" he said, unable to believe it. "Her...son?"

Amy slams her hands down on the table. "No way," she said. "What is going-"

"Miles Prower!" Aleena continued, increasing everyone's excitement.

Miles was confused about why he was chosen. He looks around, wondering that had happened. "Hold up," he said, raising his hands while looking around. "What is going on around here?"

"And Knuckles Echidna!" Aleena ended.

Knuckles was sent into a silenced shock as he found himself to be one of the chosen students. "Uh..." he said while letting his jaw drop.

The cheering died down as Aleena made the finishing announcement. "These three lucky students will be representing our school in the Columbia Games," she said. "Please cheer for them as they participate in the games. As for the three that are chosen, please report to the office immediately."

Sonic stands up along with Miles and Knuckles as they finished their meal up and throw them away. "Let's go, boys!" Sonic said as he and the other two boys make a break for Aleena's office. As they left, the rest of their friends waved goodbye to them.

As Sonic and his two friends ran down the hallway, they pass by Mr. Flare who leaning on the wall not looking too happy. Sonic stopped along with the others to back off to check him out. "Whoa!" Sonic gasped. "Mr. Flare. What's up?"

Mr. Flare lets out a sigh as he reveals what's wrong. "It's about the Columbia Games..." he said. "I can't believe that I'm seeing her again after twelve years." He averts his gaze away from Sonic.

Miles was curious about this. "What is it?" he asked.

"It's about the principal of Crystal Prep Academy," Mr. Flare answered. "Our long time enemy."

This still doesn't satisfy Miles. All the answers he needed were not given. "Mr. Flare, is there something wrong?" he asked.

Mr. Flare lets out a sigh as he reveals the truth. "It's her," he answers as he turns his head towards the boys. "Abacus Cinch."

* * *

Before becoming a material science teacher at Emerald High School, Rankine Kelvin Flare used to work at Crystal Prep Academy as a material science teacher. There, he is married to its principal, Abacus Cinch. Together, they produced a child which they called Sunny Flare.

However, as Crystal Academy was gaining a win-streak at the Columbia Games, Rankine got worried about Abacus' true intentions. He felt sorry that the other schools lost to Crystal Academy three times in a row, and he is starting to become suspicious about what is wife is doing behind the scenes.

So he decided to confront her directly.

"You only care about winning!" Rankine yelled in a furious rage. He huffs and puffs as he vents out his anger.

Abacus wipes her glasses and puts them back on. "Why not?" she asks, adjusting the glasses' fit. "It's the only way to build a reputation. After all, when managing a school, victories matter."

Rankine got even more angry and frustrated. He clutches his fists harder. "You don't understand Abacus," he said, raising his voice. "There's more than one way to build a reputation. Winning is just not the only factor when it comes to reputation. There are other factors coming into play here! There's the students, the activities, the teachers, all that kind of stuff!"

Abacus squints at Rankine. "And why do you care?" she asks.

"Because you're utterly dominating everyone else!" Rankine angrily answers, stomping on the ground. "Everyone's going to think of you as some jerk who only cares about winning."

Abacus closes her eyes as she felt something under her skin. "Rankine, your complaining is getting under my nerves for far too long," she declared. Then the turned around. "We're filing for divorce!"

Rankine turned away as he fully expected something like this to happen, given the status of their relationship at this point. "That's fine my me," he said. "I'm tired of this toxic relationship and-"

"And I'm going to take your daughter with me," Abacus decided, lifting the young Sunny Flare into her arms. "Just to rub salt on your open wounds." She then walks out of the house.

Rankine jumped as he heard that his own daughter is going to be taken away. "Wait, what?!" he screams. Then he reaches out to his daughter. "No! Sunny, don't go with her! She's a cruel mother and you'll-"

Abacus opened the door, taking one last look at her ex-husband. "Too late, Rankine," she said. "You daughter has made her decision to go with me instead of you. Now enjoy being a lonely husband for the rest of your life!" She then slams the door shut.

Rankine sent down to his knees, screaming at the top of his lungs. "Noooo!" he screams in defeat.

Not to long after, Rankine was fired from his position at Crystal Academy, forcing him to down to the south towards Emerald City ands resume his career there.

* * *

"We divorced right when Crystal Academy is getting a large win-streak of three years in a row," Mr. Flare explains, looking away and down the hallway. "It was at this point that I couldn't take my cruel wife any longer. We just simply could not handle each other. I can't believe its been twelve long years since I last saw my daughter. I wonder what she'll think of us right now." He then looks at the boys and shoos them away. "Go on ahead, you three. I will only slow you down. Just leave me alone so that I can think about my ex-wife, the principal of our rival school, in peace."

The three boys continued their journey towards Principal Aleena's office as they talked to each other about Mr. Flare.

"Rankine Flare..." Miles said, the name sticking to him. "He has a history with the principal pf Crystal Academy, right?"

"Judging by what he told us, the principal of our nemesis school has a daughter," Sonic answers. "Just like Aleena who has two sons, me and Manic."

Knuckles catches up with Sonic and Miles. "You sure you're okay with facing your foil?" he asks.

Sonic stops to think about it. "I'm not sure who this Sunny Flare is," he answers.

* * *

Rainbow is enjoying a lunch by herself, thinking about what tomorrow holds for her. The Columbia Games will surely be a big event, but it might also be their last due to a critically low budget. They'll have to make the most out of this is they want to continue this.

Then, Applejack and Thunder ran up to her, holding a slip of paper

"Rainbow!" Applejack said, catching her attention. "What's with tis piece of paper that we got? It says that we're chosen to represent the school."

Everyone in the lunchroom gasped as they look at the three students who are chosen to represent Canterlot High.

Rainbow stood up. "Wait, so you two are also chosen to represent Canterlot High?" she asked.

Thunder looks at the table, only to not find Rainbow's paper that indicates that she has been chosen. "Hey, Rainbow," he beings to ask. "Where's your slip of paper?"

"Oh, I was never given a slip of paper like yours," Rainbow answered. "Celestia just choose me to represent this school. No slips of paper required. And from the looks of it, Celestia choose you two as well."

Applejack looks around, waiting for the others to come. "Hey, where are the other three?" she asked. "Aren't there supposed to be six who are representing the school?"

Rainbow sat down to explain what had happened. "The budget for the Junior League of the Columbia Gams has reached an all time low," she explains. "For the eighth year in a row. Thanks to Crystal Academy, public interest has lowered which tells the committee that continuing to host the Junior is not viable which reduces the budget year after year. It has gotten to the point where the number of students per school has been reduced again from last year's six to this year's three. With four schools partisipating, that makes twelve students."

Suddenly, Pinkie showed up out of nowhere to add one thing to this conversation. "Also, imagine how hard it would take to track down twenty-four students," she added. "I mean, did you see the incident at Babylon Garden? It was a mess!"

Rainbow, Thunder, and Applejack stared at Pinkie wondering what had happened.

"What?" Pinkie asks.

Rainbow shifted her eyes at Pinkie. "Let's not talk about this any longer," she said. And then, its back to eating lunch.

* * *

In Diamond Secondary School, it has been announced that Jet, Wave, and Storm will all be participating in the Columbia Games Junior League as representatives of their school. Sounds great at first, until the trio looked at the announced names of those who will be participating from the other three remaining participating schools and realized that it means that they're going to be playing with those who lost their ranger powers. For this reason, Jet slumps into sadness as he felt uncomfortable approaching the ones who he joked will experience a bad time, and then experience a bad time in the exact same day as when he made that statement.

Jet groans as he covered his face. "I can't believe I'm meeting with the former rangers for a competition that we always lose at," he said.

Wave and Storm walked back and gathered around him. Wave leans on a nearby empty desk. "Yeah. Diamond Secondary School sucks at competition," she said. She looks off into the distance. "Wonder why this school even bothers when they know that they will lose? Why can't we just drop out like the others?"

Jet uncovers his face and glares at Wave. "The Columbia Games still need enough sides competing to retain interest," he answered. "And with the abysmal interest in the event, we have to make the most out it. It's too late to quit now."

Storm attempts to cheer his friend up. "Well, with the rangers around, we're sure to end Crystal Academy's fifteen-year-long win-streak," he said. "Right guys?"

Jet stares at Storm with disapproval. They're no longer rangers, Storm, Jet thought. "I highly doubt it," he spoke before covering his face again.

Wave and Storm looked at each other and gave a shrug. Hopefully, Jet will cheer up and become his normal self before the games begin.

* * *

Crystal Prep Academy, often referred to as Crystal Academy, is a school located on the westernmost area of the Canterlot Gardens School District. Located near the city, students get a nice view of the skyscrapers from their windows. As a private school, it is located in the wealthy area of the suburbs and only allows those who can afford and willing to pay the fee.

Twilight exits the bus and heads towards the building entrance as morning dawns on her and she takes off her sweatshirt, revealing her Crystal Academy uniform. She stops in front of the doors to take a sigh before entering.

Upon entering, Twilight is greeted with a sea of students who are wearing clothing that is similar to hers. The standard Crystal Academy uniform. Nothing new to her today. This is her first year at the school, and its nearing the last day of school. Twilight takes a moment to take in a big breath of air as she prepares to move through the hallways, mostly avoiding the students along the way.

Twilight bumps into a student as she passes by. "Sorry," she apologizes. Then she brushes against another student. "Excuse me. Didn't mean to do that." Then, from behind her, another student passes by her and pushed her aside. "Hey, stop pushing!"

Twilight continues to get suspicious looks and keeps bumping into others.

Finally, she enters her private study room without drawing too much attention from the others. "Phew!" she takes a breath, wiping the sweat off of her head. "I dodged a bullet there when I was snooping around both Canterlot High and Emerald High. I hope I didn't attract too much attention while I was measuring FR waves."

Twilight approaches her desk and places her stuff down. She takes out some papers and places them on the desk for her to study.

"Everyone's still talking about something known as rangers," Twilight mentions as she organizes her papers. "I'm so interested in these superheroes. Makes me wonder where they got their powers. Shame that news of their actions kind of fell of the radar in recent months. Just as I was about to figure out who these rangers might be." She then takes out her FR scanner and gets an idea. Surely with monsters emitting FR waves, these rangers have surely gotten some on their skin as they are fighting the monsters. "But, if I use this, I might be able to track down who these rangers are. After all, FR don't just suddenly disappear. They linger for a while, just like IR."

Twilight looks at the calendar that's hanging on the wall. Marked on the very next day is a special event. Within the box contains the words, "Columbia Games Junior League Begins".

"Tomorrow's the Columbia Games," Twilight recalls, "and I'm sure that all of the rangers will be there for the event. With all of them gathered, I can easily rind out who the rangers are. Then, when I examine the waveforms of the FR they're still emitting, I might be able to pin down the origins of their powers." Twilight then gets excited as she realizes the genius behind this study. "This. Is. GENIUS!" she shouts excitedly, leaning back on her chair. "Once I finish researching and submit my report, the officials will be so amazed by my work that I will be a part of an independent study program. Oh, I've been dreaming of this since the month I first attended-" Twilight leans on her chair so hard that she fell over and landed on her back. She yelps as she fell, just as someone knocks on the door.

"Mind if I come in, Twilight Sparkle?" someone said behind the door. Then the door opens to reveal the pink women known as Cadence. The dean of the Crystal Academy, and also Twilight's former babysitter.

Twilight got up and looks at her former babysitter. "Oh, hey Cadence," she greeted as she got back to her feet. "What are you doing in my study room?"

"Principal Cinch wants to talk to you," Cadence replied.

A spark of excitement went down her body. "What? Why?" she asks. Then she got up to Cadence's chest. "Is it about my journey into an independent study program?"

Cadence looked at Twilight's excited face before shaking her head. "Not quite," she answers. "It's about the upcoming Columbia Games."

Twilight initially brushes the announcement off "Yeah, yeah," she replies, "I know. I read the calendar every week, you know?"

"That's not all," Cadence said as she moves off to the side to reveal that Lightning Dust and Sunny Flare has been waiting there outside Twilight's private study room.

"Lightning Dust? Sunny Flare?" Twilight asked, surprised that two of her classmates are there. "What are they doing here?"

Cadence looks at the two girls. "Principal Cinch wanted these two to come to her office as well," she answers.

Twilight was shocked by this. "Wait? Them too?" she asks. "But I wasn't told about this earlier!"

"Yeah, our intercom system still needs some fixing," Cadence admitted. "But we have to hurry. Principal Cinch really doesn't want us to be tardy." She then makes the signal to Lighting and Sunny to take Twilight along for the ride.

Twilight cried as she is dragged along against her will. "Wait!" she cried. "But what about my research?"

"Enough of your nonsense, smarty girl," Lighting replies. "The Columbia Games is clearly more important than your stupid research project."

Twilight was shaken by Lightning's statement about her research projects. Them, worthless? For months everyone was jealous of her intelligence. Now they're dissing her own projects?

"Plus, we know who the rangers are," Sunny added. Then she glares at Twilight, intimidating her. "Want to know?"

"Girls! Cut it out!" Cadence reminded. "We don't want to disturb the other classrooms."

Twilight continues to get dragged off by both Lighting Dust and Sunny Flare as she is forcefully transported from her private study room to Principal Cinch's office. A feeling of anxiety went through her head as she worries about the state of her research project.

 **The Columbia Games Arc begins...**

* * *

 **From the Author:**

The last few episodes were relative calm compared to the episodes leading up to the Babylon Garden incident. The early episodes of this mini-series (season?) are leading out of that event, which is why everything seems so calm rather than being adventurous. That is, until this came along.

The Columbia Games will be the first major arc both Team Sonic and The Rainbooms will experience in a while. With things racking up with this years might being their last, these two teams will have to face their rivals once again. Now all together, we might get to see some...interesting things going on. Oh, and fair warning. This arc will end with one of the teams gaining something meaningful.

Based on the Friendship Games movie, these former rangers are about to experience a wild ride.

If you're wondering that FR means, it stands for Foreign Radiation. Foreign Radiation is a type of radiation that does not originate from it home world. The place of origin does not have to be another country. It has to cross the dimensional boundaries for it to count. Foreign Radiation is not felt by organisms. Only devices turned to detect those are able to see it. Like radioactive materials, Foreign Radiation lingers around and disappears over time at an exponentially lowering rate.

Foreign Radiation can stick to any solid thing it touches. Because it's harmless, it is not noticed and thus people cannot know if someone has interacted with a foreign object. Unless they saw it for themselves or heard about it from another source.

* * *

Written by TheAPPstore

Sonic the Hedgehog character property of Sega

My Little Pony characters property of Hasbro


	9. The Columbia Games: Part 1

**Episode 9**

 **"The Columbia Games, Part 1"**

* * *

Twelve students, one event. With this year looking to be the very last time the Columbia Games Junior League will be hosted, the chosen students will have to make the most out of things to make this year something to remember before the lights shut off on this league for high schools. So, how do they do it? They start off the Columbia Games with the most disastrous welcome party ever seen. New rivalries are formed, things are heating up even before the games started, and several people got hurt in an all out brawl.

Couldn't things get any better once the Columbia Games begin?

Columbia Games arc is inspired by Equestria Girls: Friendship Games.

* * *

 **[Beginning of Episode]**

So Twilight is just about to continue her research project and find out who the rangers really are, when she is approached by Dean Cadence and is pulled from her private study room within the school and is escorted to Principal Cinch's office along with two other girls. Isn't today fun, at least for Twilight?

Well, things are just getting started. Twilight, Lightning, and Sunny are stand in front of the doors to Cinch's office at the top floor of the building with Dean Cadence by their side.

"Well then. Are you sure you're ready to do this?" Cadence asked, looking at the girls.

Lightning and Sunny are putting on a calm, confident look on their faces. Twilight, however, is still looking worried.

Cadence and the others looked at Twilight. "Come on," Cadence said. "We're waiting."

Twilight takes in a deep breath as she opens the doors to the dark room that is Cinch's office.

Cinch is pleased to see that the three students she has summoned to her office has arrive. "Ahh. You've come here as expected," she said, setting aside finished papers. The girls stopped in front of her desk to take a seat. "Lightning Dust, Sunny Flare, and Twilight Sparkle. You three are all here for one purpose. Except, I have something to talk about with Twilight."

Sunny crossed her arms and glared at Cinch. "Don't tell me that it's about the Columbia Games, mother," she said.

Lightning shot her eyes at Sunny, frowning at her classmate.

"Have you even checked the calendars around the school?" Cinch asks. Then she looks at the calendar that's hung behind her. "Tomorrow's the Columbia Games and I've still did not pick out three students that will represent my school. And judging from what I heard, it looks like the our three school rivals will be doing the same thing on the same day. Thus, I gathered all three of you here to announce that you three will be the students who will represent my school in the Columbia Games."

Sunny and Twilight were surprised by this, but Lightning was not, only giving out a smirk of being unfazed by the announcement.

"What?" Twilight gasped.

Sunny was left stuttering. "But...but mother-" she tried to spit out before being interrupted.

"Hush now, Sunny," Cinch reminded. "It's my choice, and my choice is final."

Lighting held up a smirk of confidence at first, before realizing the possibilities and growing a frown. "Great. Now I have the potential to meet up with that rainbow-haired sports girl that used to be my friend again," she groans. "Some things never get old, you know."

Twilight was practically sweating. She can feel the stress building up inside her. "But..." she raised a finger. "I don't want to participate in the Columbia Games. Did you even see what events takes place there?"

Cinch was quite shocked to see one of her chosen students respond to being chosen like that. She then immediately orders something. "Lighting Dust, Sunny Flare. Please leave the room at once!" she said, pointing to her office doors.

"Yes ma'am," Lightning said as she and Sunny got out of their chairs and left the room. As they exited, Cadence silently closed the door so that Twilight and Cinch can have a discussion.

Cinch adjusts her eyes as she beings tp bring out some forms. "Twilight. You're the best student that Crystal Academy as to offer," she said. "That's something I understand. What I can't understand is why my best student is not willing to participate in such an important event."

Twilight looked the other way, holding on to her other arm. "But...what if I failed the school?" she asked.

Cinch walks over to the school's trophy case and polishes up her trophies. "It doesn't matter how much you contribute and if we lose," she said as she puts back her trophy. "What matters is that Crystal Academy will win because we're expected to win. It's been like that for fifteen years in a row."

Twilight then beings to have other things in mind, as she starts to mumble about something else. "My research project..." she mumbled, shaking in her seat. "The independent study program..."

Something caught Cinch's attention there. Twilight's application to one of the many independent study programs located across the country.

"Ah, yes. Your application to an independent study program," Cinch brings up. "We have several of institutions like those across the country." She then gets an idea in her head. "Tell you what. I know that's one of your dreams ever since you've got her and got a taste of what Crystal Academy is like from the inside."

Cinch then pulls out several papers containing Twilight's school information and her report cards. On top of the papers are some unsigned application forms for Cinch to evaluate.

"One of the advantages of having a reputation is the amount of negotiating power you have to get what you wanted," Cinch said. "So, with that in mind, how about I make you a deal. In exchange for offering your intelligence to my school, I will use my reputation to guarantee that you apply." She pushes the papers slightly forward, prompting Twilight to try and reach out for them. "But be warned," she added, stopping Twilight. "If I think you're not doing enough to help my school, I will personally have it denied. So, Twilight. Are you up to the task?"

Twilight becomes nervous and silent as she is unsure about what to do next.

* * *

Twilight returns to her private study room feeling more stressed out than ever.

"Man, Principal Cinch can get really cruel at times," Twilight sighs, feeling like she could collapse at any moment. "I mean, she basically blackmailed me. It's not like she gave me much of a choice."

Twilight then looks off to a drawer and felt something. She reaches out and opens the drawer, pulling the item out. The item she pulls out is a purple, circular, palm-sized device with two semi-domes on the top and bottom. On the boundary between the top and bottom is a darker, thick band that encompasses the entire equator.

"This item, still as comforting as ever," Twilight said. "It seems as if whenever I'm holding it, my anger goes away..."

As she said that, a red area emits from her hands and gets sucked into the device she's holding. Later, she pulls the string through the hole near the hinge and wraps the string around her neck, wearing the device like an necklace.

* * *

The following day, students gathered at the auditorium for one of the chosen students to make a special announcement. Sonic and Rainbow, in their respective schools, stepped in front of the whole audience with their two student partners standing behind them.

In Canterlot High School's auditorium room, Rainbow stomps her feet on the stage to catch everyone's attention.

"Listen up, everyone!" Rainbow shouts, silencing everyone. "We might not be able to beat a school as fancy and great as Crystal Academy, but they doesn't mean that we should give up."

At the same time, in Emerald High School's auditorium room, Sonic is doing his speech to his fellow classmates, following up what Rainbow said from far away.

"We may lose to them at everything except for losing itself," Sonic said, pumping up his fist. "But we've still haven't lost hope yet!" He then opens his fist and swipes it across the air, palm facing down to the ground.

"They may be super smart and athletic..." Rainbow said, closing her eyes

"They may be crushers of all who try to oppose," Sonic added, also closing his eyes.

"But if there's one thing that don't have, it's this."

Rainbow and Sonic snapped open their eyes as they give their audience the answer.

"They don't have rangers!" they both yelled at the same time.

"Standing in front of you are three former rangers," Rainbow told everyone as the lights shine down on Applejack and Thunder. "Our ranger days might be over, but our fighting spirit has not waned a bit."

The lights went on, shining down on Miles and Knuckles. "Our principal personally picked us to represent the school in the Columbia Games Junior League," Sonic said, point his thumb towards himself. "And with people as awesome as us, there's no way that we'll lose badly."

"No matter the outcome, one thing is clear. We will not lose without a satisfying fight. It's time to show Crystal Academy what their rival schools has to offer."

"It's about time that we shine! With this year looking to be the last of the Junior League, it's time to make the most out of this event before it's gone."

"And my fellow students. I beg you."

Ending their speech, Sonic and Rainbow told their audience one thing. "Cheer us on!" they both shouted, rallying up their audience as they cheer for their former rangers to succeed.

* * *

The first day of the Columbia Games is confirmed to take place at Canterlot High. However, it is unknown about the location of the next two days. Maybe the games will still be hosted at Canterlot High. Or maybe someplace else. Who knows. The committee behind the games doesn't want to reveal.

Knowing this location, Sonic and his friends packed their stuff and hopped on a train while several of their students are taking provided bus that will transport them from Emerald City to Canterlot High. Diamond Secondary students are doing the same, expect that everyone is taking the buses.

Crystal Academy, however, seems to be in the middle of something, as they're experiencing some delays in their travels to Canterlot High.

* * *

Today, Canterlot High Schools appears to be in the middle of a opening ceremony. Above the school entrance is a banner that reads, "Welcome to the Columbia Games". Several households who live near the school are poking out of the windows, holding signs to cheer for the students. Mostly Canterlot and Emerald.

At the front courtyard, there are four circles marked with traffic cones, with one of them holding a letter. Next to the circles are four bleachers. The circles are marked E for Emerald High, D for Diamond Secondary, C for Canterlot High, and A for Crystal Academy.

At the Canterlot circle, Rainbow and her friends are waiting for the others to arrive. Some of the students watching are even checking their watches.

Our of all the Rainbooms, only Rarity is absent. However, she's still inside the school building. She's just working on some outfits for the participators to wear.

After several minutes of waiting, one voice perks them up. "Hey guys!" someone said.

Rainbow turned her head and grew a smile. Sonic and his friends are here. "Hey, Sonic," she greeted. "Good to see you again!" She then spread her arms wide, offering a hug.

Sonic took Rainbow's offer of a hug. "Don't tell Amy about this," he whispered. "It'll be out little secret."

Rainbow giggled a little bit.

Sonic then let go of Rainbow and turned to his friends. Only Miles and Knuckles are here as well. They are waiting for the rest of the students to catch up. Especially their friends.

Miles took a look at Rainbow's friends who are still in the marked circle. "So, you three are chosen, aren't you?" he asks.

Meanwhile, Knuckles took a look at the decorations used for the opening ceremony and noticed that there is some amount of effort being made to this ceremony. "Hey, I thought that the budget was lowered from last year," he observed. "This doesn't look cheap at all!"

Applejack then comes up to explain. "Well, that's because the opening ceremony is only part of the budget and doesn't make a huge dent in it," she said. "What we're really concerned about are the events. The items used for these events are not cheap to rent and use. As such, we can only afford to pay for I think about four of each item used. I think you know what that means."

"We're not competing as a team?" Knuckles gasps, wondering what that means.

"Yeah," Rainbow confirms. "Also, people are going to have to choose what event to watch so..."

Thunder shouted from the other side of the front courtyard. "Hey!" he yells, catching the attentions of others. "Get into your marked circles now! We'd better get prepared for the other schools to arrive!"

The two groups then returned to the area reserved for the selected students. Sonic, Miles, and Knuckles stood in the circle that is designated to them and their school, on the opposite corner of Canterlot High's students. They then waited for the other schools to arrive.

A white bus with a crystalized "D" painted on the side arrives and at the parking lot of Canterlot High, at the bus drop off section.

"And the students from Diamond City have arrived," Principal Celestia announced as several of the students board off. "Ironically, Crystal Academy has yet to arrive, despite being blocks away from this school." She then looks towards the city core, wondering what's going on with them. "What's taking them so long?"

The students from Diamond Secondary then exited the school bus. Leading them was their principal, Curtis Carbon.

"Alright, everyone," Curtis said. "Time to lose to Crystal Academy and the others...again..."

The first thing that the Diamond Secondary students did is to come to their designated bleachers, with Wave and Storm going towards the circle reserved for the chosen students. Jet, on the other hand, decides to come in contact with Sonic once again.

"Hey Jet," Sonic greeted as his rival approaches him. "How are you doing?"

Unlike his confident face that he usually puts on, Jet doesn't look too excited about being in the competition between four schools. Or maybe he felt some regret in him. Whichever the case, Jet decides to speak up to Sonic. "Yeah," he replies, sighing. "Sorry about that joke I make."

Sonic didn't catch what Jet is referring to. "What joke?" he asks.

"I joked about how you and your team was going to be destroyed by some monster from some evil organization," Jet explains, reminding Sonic about the match between their schools at Snakewater. "And right after that, a rouge monster destroyed your powers."

This brings back memories to Sonic and his two friends. They were reminded of the day that Sonic and Rainbow's team, formerly known as the Ringrangers and the Equingers, had an entire team encounter with each other at Babylon Garden. They may have forgotten the details, but what they did know is that that was the day where they lost their ranger powers to that guardian who's protected the floating island city for who knows how long.

Jet looks away, brushing the back of his head. "Well, besides that...have fun trying to beat Crystal Academy for the fifteenth time," he blessed. Then he joins with his friends and the rest of Diamond Secondary.

After a while, the students of Emerald High have reunited with Sonic, Miles, and Knuckles, with Aleena leading them.

"Ah. There's the other students from Emerald High," Celestia sighs in relief. "Wonder how they came here later than Sonic and his pals."

Aleena stopped in front of Celestia and Curtis. "Right after my three chosen students took the train, we had a bit of an issue in regards to the civilians," she explains. "Last time I checked, they blocked the roads just to try to get our autographs."

"Oh," Curtis realizes. "No wonder our bus driver decided to take such an odd path through Canterlot today."

As the principals are taking, the rest of Team Sonic caught up with Sonic, Miles, and Knuckles. They gasped for air as they regrouped.

"Phew," Manic gasps. "We lost you for a minute due to the-" Then he takes a look at the letters and notices that something is missing. "Wait, where's 'B'?" he exclaims. "Something here just frustrates me."

"Beryl High School, the school representing B has boycotted participation since 2014," Espio explains. "Much to the chagrin to those who like the alphabet all in order."

"Oh right," Miles said, taking a closer look at the letters that are representing each of the participating schools. "Oh well. No need to worry about that. That's just a minor detail that will tick some people who are suffering from OCD." He this leans over to whisper to Sonic. "I'm not one of those people."

After what seems to be an entire morning, the bus for Crystal Academy has arrive, much to the relief of everyone who wanted to being this opening ceremony. "Ah. There's Crystal Academy!" Celestia announces. "They've finally arrived!"

The doors open and Principal Cinch exits first, leading the rest of the students. Almost immediately, Aleena feels tense as she detects something about Cinch that makes her worried, especially to Sonic who's one of the participators.

One by one, the Crystal Academy students exited the bus, flowing out perfectly. That is, until the purple girl comes to the bus doors and hesitated to come out. It's as if she felt something about the competitors that bothers her.

Before either Sonic or Rainbow could point it out, Lightning came from behind the girl and pushed her aside. "Coming though!" she yelled, shoving the poor girl aside.

The crowd gasps as the girl impacted the ground. Nobody didn't seem to notice the red aura that's surrounding the girl's upper chest.

"Oh!" Sonic grunts as he reels back in disgust. "That girl got hurt."

From across the courtyard, Rainbow shouts to others, "Well, you guys just got a taste of what Crystal Academy students are like."

The girl then got up and slowly walked towards the circle joining the other two competitors from Crystal Academy, making a group of three like the other three schools.

There are now four groups of student from each of the participating schools. There's three boys from Emerald High, two boys and a girl from Diamond Secondary, two girls and a boy from Canterlot High, and three girls from Crystal Academy. What are they trying to form exactly?

Principal Cinch then approaches Aleena, having the time to clean her glasses as she approaches her. "Ahh. Aleena Rush," she greeted coldly which attracted mean looks from the other principals. "It's been a long time since I've last seen you." She then notices the grumpy look that Aleena's putting on today. "What makes you so grumpy today? Did you want to put up a mask like mine to get better? Ha! What a joke."

Aleena got more infuriated that Abacus did not pick up why she's feeling grumpy. "I'm not made because I want to be like you," she replies. "I'm mad because our own children are participating." Aleena then turns away from Abacus, looking at Sonic.

Abacus got curious as she puts her glasses back on. "Oh yeah?" she replies, skeptical about Aleena's response. "And which one is it?"

Aleena turned to Abacus as she gives out one simple answer. "Sonic."

Sonic looked at his mother as she talked to Abacus Cinch. Suddenly, from Crystal Academy's circle, Sunny Flare went up to his face.

"Wait, you're the child of the principal like me?" Sunny asks, pointing her finger up Sonic's nose.

Sonic felt really uncomfortable by how close this girl is. She's not even his friend! "Whoa there!" Sonic said, positing his hands preparing to push this girl away from him. "Don't need to get that close."

Sunny leered deeper into Sonic's soul. "Hey! There can only one like me in existence!" she screams. Then she got off Sonic's face. "Take this, imitator!" she then jumps on Sonic and starts to beat him by the head.

Aleena and Abacus watched as Sunny continued to beat down on Sonic.

"They really enjoy each other, don't you think?" Abacus remarks.

Celestial, Aleena, and Curtis all stared at Abacus Cinch as she makes that remark. "Abacus..." Aleena growls, a feeling of anger packed with her words.

Sonic continues to find himself being beaten in the head by someone like him. A child of principal of the very school that the child attends.

Amy had enough of this and tried to confront Sunny, reaching into her pockets and about to grab her hammer. "Hey!" she yells, stepping up to Sunny. "Keep you hands off of Sonic!"

Rainbow places her arm in front of Amy, stopping her in her tracks. "Hold up, Amy," she says. "Let me handle this." She then steps up to Sunny instead.

Amy was furious. "What?" she shrieked. "But you're a boy-"

"Since I'm a participate of the Columbia Games, and this bothers me a lot, I'll confront that girl," Rainbow explains. Then she continues on to confront Sunny.

Sonic was beaten in the head a lot of times, so much so that he gave up holding back on screaming and wailed his pain to the world. Meanwhile, Sunny ignored the fact that Sonic is in severe pain and continues to beat him in the head as she rode him around.

"Hey," Rainbow said, stepping up to Sunny. "Hey girl. Would you mind if you calm down and-"

Sunny stopped punching Sonic in the head and turned towards Rainbow. "You can't tell me what to do!" she yells. "Take this!" She then introduces the bottom of her feet into Rainbow's face.

"Ahh!" Rainbow shrieks as she is knocked to the ground.

A shadow went over Rainbow's face and Rainbow opened her eyes to look at that familiar orange hair. It's Lightning Dust.

"Well. Guess who meet each other again," Lightning said, giving a Rainbow a smirk.

Rainbow was sent into anger as she looked into Lightning's eyes. She got up and confronted Lightning while behind her, Sonic runs around continually getting himself punched in the head. "Lightning...you stole that victory from right under my feet," she said, reminding her about the hoverboard tournament from months before. "Right when I was about to win."

Lightning shrugs it off. She shook her head as if she forgot. "Dash, don't be so angry," she said. "It's been a long time since. You can just forget about it."

Rainbow got even more infuriated. "Well, not all memories disappear after a few days," she teaches Lightning, who continues to wear her smirk. "That moment stuck to me like a stubborn parasite."

Lightning doesn't catch Rainbow's feeling. "What's the matter?" she asks. "Angered that I won instead of you?"

Applejack then came up to the two girls to try to defuse this before it gets even worse. "Alright, everyone," she says. "Now don't get too fired up before the games begin." She then gets a greeting from Lightning's palm to her face. "Ow!" she yelps as she steps back towards Thunder.

"How many times do we have to tell you?" Lightning asks. "You can't tell us what to do."

Rainbow grows increasing concerned about the state of the opening ceremony.

Then, it was Jet's turn to confront Lightning head on. "Well, how about this for good measure?" he asks. Then he points finger up Lightning's face. "How about you don't act like the snobby rich kids that you are? Act like the sports plays that you're supposed to be."

Lightning then went up Jet's face. "Shut you mouth up, bird face," she insisted. Then she shoves Jet down to the ground.

"Ahh!" Jet screams as he fell. Wave and Strom quickly rushed to his aid. And then Jet squawks like an angry bird. "Who are you calling a bird?"

The entire opening ceremony quickly dissolved into a brawl. Lightning is fighting against Rainbow and Jet against their will, Storm and Knuckles are trying hard trying to get Sunny off of Sonic, and Wave and Applejack tried to calm everything down, only to be pulled into the brawl themselves. Meanwhile, Miles and the mystery girl watched as the brawl unfolds in front of them.

The other students are disgusted by this, even their friends. Fluttershy especially as she turns away from the courtyard to avert her gaze from the brawl that's going on. She couldn't see her friends get hurt.

Meanwhile, the principals were shocked to see how quickly the opening ceremony has turned into something out of a street brawl against two gangs.

"That...escalated quickly," Celestia commented. "This whole welcoming day is turning into a mess."

Aleena grew bitter by what was allowed to happen. She turns towards Abacus, pointing fingers towards her. "And it's all your daughter's fault," she blames. "How dare you allow that to happen to my son?"

Abacus looks at the angered Aleena, not picking up her anger. "What can I say," she brushes it off. "You're a principal. Of a rival school. I'm entitled to show my rival schools what Crystal Academy is made off."

Aleena growls even louder. Her rage building inside her. "I hate you even more now," she growls.

Celestia got disgusted by how things are going for the Columbia Games. "Urg," she groans in disappointment. "This isn't going as well as planned. How about we delay the games until tomorrow just to allow everyone to recover?"

Abacus quickly turned her attention towards Celestia. "Is that your plan all along?" she asks. "Push back the start date by a whole day?"

"Well, we have encountered an...unexpected circumstance..." Curtis replies, defending Celestia's decision.

Aleena agrees on this, as she cannot accept such behavior before an event. "I can't take this any longer," she groans, her anger ever more increasing. Then she grabs a megaphone and shouts to all of the present students. "Everyone! Drop what you're doing!"

The brawl stops with Storm and Knuckles letting go of Sunny's arms, the fight between Jet, Rainbow, and Lightning, and everyone who got dragged in crawling their way out.

"I know that you're meeting up with former rivals again," Aleena announced. "We're sorry for setting up things like this. However, there's no reason to get heated up before the games even started. Look at this! Some of the competitors are severely injured! And it's all because the child of one principal decided to beat up the child of another. As a result, we are forced to delay the Columbia Games until tomorrow to allow time for the injured to heal."

A collective groan fills the courtyard as everyone has to wait an additional day before the games even begin.

Out of all the students who were involved in the brawl, two did not participate, seven got hurt, and three were severely injured, those being Sonic, Wave, and Applejack.

Amy took a look at Sonic as he lays there on the ground, looking like he's about to cry. She then angrily stomps towards Rainbow. "I told you that I can handle this," she yells. "Look at the mess that you've triggered!"

Rainbow shook her head in disagreement. "Doesn't matter," she said. "Crystal Academy students refused to let us command them."

"So?" Amy threw back. "At least I'm not a competitor and a love thief at the same time!"

The injured Applejack trotted over to Amy. "Amy, Rainbow's right," she sighs. "The heated rivalry between Crystal Academy and the other schools is enough for the welcoming ceremony to dissolve into this mess. Don't blame Rainbow. Blame whoever started this whole mess."

Amy is sent into a gibbering mess. "But she's the one who-"

"Amy, it's not the escalator of the problem that you should solve," Miles explains as he walks up to her. "It's better to focus on the root cause to prevent future problems. Because if we decided to target the escalator, we would only delay the inevitable. The problem will creep to us again someday if we don't solve the root of the problem."

With everything calmed down, Rainbow checks on the downed Sonic. "Sonic, are you okay?" she asks.

"Urg…" Sonic moans. "That girl...she pounded on my head repeatedly. I...I don't think I can move..."

Rainbow gasps as she realizes that Sonic is more than severely hurt. "Uh oh," she said. Then she turns to cry for attention. "Quickly! Get medical help now!"

Way after the brawl started, Rarity, donning her work glasses, comes out the doors to complain. "What's going on here?" she asks. "I was just about to present these uniforms to-" She then picks up the messy state of the front school courtyard. There appears to be ambulances on the site taking care of the injured people. "Uh...what happened here?"

Then, a truck came by, stopping at the school parking lot. There, Silver exited the truck, along with his butler Dmitri. "Sorry that I'm late," he says. "I just had to pack in the equipment used for the games, just in case some of them broke." He then looks around the courtyard, noticing the medical workers who are on the site. Silver was confused by why they are there. "By the way, what did I miss? It looks like something happened here."

* * *

"Sonic's like a male version of Rainbow Dash, don't you think?" Bow comments towards Aleena.

After that incident at Canterlot High, the parents of both Sonic and Rainbow gathered up to talk about the state of things in Rainbow's house, all while Sonic and Rainbow stayed at the second floor. Several students have returned to their normal lives, though Canterlot High is closed for clean up and preparations. Meanwhile, the rest of the students left for home, though the ones who are injured from the brawl that broke out have remained in Canterlot City.

Aleena fiddles with her fingers. Then she replies. "Well, if you take into account that he's younger than Rainbow by a few months then yes." She then lets out heavy sigh as she felt sorry for the state that Sonic is in.

Firefly shook her head in disbelief, planting her hand against her forehead. "I can't believe that Sunny Flare would do something that to Sonic," she said. "Couldn't she just accept that sometimes this is the case? A student being the child of one of the staff in the very same school that they attend?"

"And to think that she would attack a ranger," Chuck said, leaning on his head. "You know what happens when you provoke a ranger, don't you?"

Aleena was left crippling under anxiety and anger. "Sonic would've won," she muttered, "if only he prepared himself for Sunny to jump on him and attack him by bashing on the head. Instead, we got this. That poor boy..." As she sinks deeper into a state of sadness, she feels the urge to do one thing. "You know what. Let me notify Mr. Flare about what his duaght has just did to my son."

Aleena then stands up and walk towards the phone. She enters Mr. Flare's number and waited for a response from him as the other parents sat there and watch.

"Yes, is this Rankine?" Aleena asks. Then she went silent for a moment, waiting for a response. "Okay. Well, remember your daughter that was taken away from you when you divorced with Principal Abacus Cinch? Well, she just attacked Sonic because she doesn't believe that another one could exist like her."

"Oh my!" Rankine Flare gasped upon hearing this nears. "Did she really-" he stooped himself for a moment, having enough of this. "Okay, I'm going to track down Abacus and confront her head on. Just give me a moment."

Aleena grew worried about this. "But it's been a long time since you two have last seen each other," she pointed out.

"Doesn't matter," Rankine replies. "I know exactly how she feels about me now."

* * *

After being seriously injured, Sonic is forced to sleep in with Rainbow on her bed, donning a bandage to cover up his head wounds. Rainbow is setting up a sleeping bag to rest alongside Sonic, as she is unable to use her bed this night.

Rainbow sighs, feeling like she disappointed her friend. "I'm sorry, Sonic," she apologizes. "I was only trying to help. I was going to tell her that she's not that much different from me. Sharing some similarities with you."

Sonic looks towards the window, looking out from it. He's starting to recall the moments where he and Rainbow first met each other. "It's that moment from when we first met each other," he recalls, "except more extreme." He then turns towards Rainbow. "Remember that kickball duel? We tied at the end. That fight I had against the daughter of a rival school? I...I totally got dominated. It's as if we're in a abusive relationship."

Rainbow felt a similar pain go through her body as Sonic mentions abuse in a relationship. She clings to her chest, feeling her heard pounding. "I feel your pain, Sonic."

Sonic turns his head. "Hmm?" he asks.

"It's about the abusive/toxic relationship," Rainbow replies. "I had the same thing happen between me and Lightning Dust."

Sonic has his eyes widened as Rainbow mentions experiencing a similar thing. "What? Seriously?" he asks.

"Yeah," Rainbow nodded. "Only, instead of you two becoming enemies at first sight, I actually though that Lightning is a friend I could make. That is, until she took my victory away from me just as I was about to win. And my relationship with her just went downhill from here."

Sonic bands his head against Rainbow's bed pillow. "I'm starting to wonder if doing this is all worth it," he wonders. "Participating in the Columbia Games. If we lost again, that's it. Game over. The Columbia Games Junior League is no more. If we can't defeat Crystal Academy, if we can't knock those snobby kids out of their throne, well, tough."

"Don't think that way, Sonic," Rainbow reminds as she stand up.

"Why, Rainbow?"

Rainbow rubbed her hand on Sonic's injured head, bringing him a feeling of warmth as she explains why. "Sonic, you and I and all our friends, we are rangers," she explains. "We might used to be rangers, but we still got the fighting spirit within us." She kneels down closer to Sonic. "Trust me, Sonic. We will win this, together. Even if we're playing for different schools. We can still claim victory."

Sonic smiles back at Rainbow. "Good to see that my opinion just made a full circle," he says. "After I got beaten, I had doubts that we would be able to win this. But after hearing what you said, I'm feeling like we can do this."

Rainbow patted on Sonic's shoulder. "That's the spirit!" she said. "Okay. Just be fine by tomorrow. The games have been pushed back by one day, so be fully recovered by then. Right?"

Sonic grins bat at Rainbow, showing her that he's still got that confident spirit he's known for. "Right."

* * *

"You really shouldn't have attacked that blue boy," Twilight said as she, Sunny Flare, and Principal Cinch walked through the local park.

"Why not?" Sunny asks. Then she turns her head toward Twilight. "He's related to the principal of a rival school after all!"

"But-" Twilight nearly said before stopping herself as her heart jump. She gives a moment of silence to regather what little confidence she have. "But Sunny, aren't you related to Principal Cinch?"

Sunny then went up to Twilight's face. "You know what they say, right?" she asks, threatening to hurt Twilight if she didn't answer. Twilight squeaks as she feels frightened. Sunny then lowers her fist as she gave the answer in a dramatic voice. "There can be only one!"

"Urg," Principal Cinch groans as she felt something that she didn't want to talk about being brought up. "Would you please quiet down for a moment? Let's enjoy our stroll around this park as we calm our minds down as the Columbia Games start for real. Don't you understand?"

Sunny ignored her mother as she looks away, continuing to walk. Meanwhile, Twilight leans over to show a meek look on her face. Cinch proceeds to ignore Twilight.

"Abacus Cinch," a voice said from behind them. Cinch came to a screeching halt as she recognizes that voice. The other two students stop alongside her.

"Oh no..." Cinch realizes. "It can't be..."

Cinch turns around to find that her ex-husband, Rankine Kelvin Flare is there on the park, tailing behind them.

Sunny had her jaw open as she recognizes the face. "Dad?" she asks.

Twilight looks towards Sunny. "Huh?" she asks as she takes a look at the physical features of the two adults.

Rankine Flare walks towards his ex-wife, putting on his intimidating look. "It's been twelve long years since we've last seen each other," he said. "And now, we've finally met."

 **To be Continued...**

* * *

 **From the Author:**

The Friendship Games movie has just been adapted into this series of mine, but with several changes and alterations to make this distinct from the original source material.

First off, instead of a handful of students participating from each school, there are only three students from each participating school that will be present and participating for the duration of the Columbia Games, barring severe injuries of course. Secondly, the number of schools has increased from two to four, though in universe that number is the lowest the Columbia Games Junior League has ever seen. Thirdly, the games take place over a longer period of time, three days instead of a single one. Finally, there are much more events in the academic day and the athletics day, pushing the minds and bodies of the participating students at every event.

In recent years, the Junior League of the Columbia Games has pretty much fallen out of favor in the public's eyes, due to the unnatural success of Crystal Academy during the past several years, However, during the opening ceremony of the most recent year to play out, public interest has skyrocketed into a high not seen in several years, likely due to the presence of the former rangers. That does mean that camera crew are going to show up in the event rooms when people are least expecting them to.

As for the antagonists, one of the main flaws in _Equestria Girls: Friendship Games_ is how little characterization some of the villains get. With the Columbia Games arc, the reduction of antagonist will hopefully relieve this issue. Plus, two of the antagonists has been already introduced so at least some of that is relieved.

Next time on Ringranger and Equinger, the first day of the Columbia Games Junior League begins with the academic events.

* * *

Written by TheAPPstore

Sonic the Hedgehog character property of Sega

My Little Pony characters property of Hasbro


	10. The Columbia Games: Part 2

**Episode 10**

 **"The Columbia Games, Part 2"**

* * *

And they're off! The first day of the Columbia Games Junior League begins for real this time after the disastrous introduction the previous day brings. Now, they're doing the introduction properly this time. For the first day, the students will compete in various academic tasks to test their intellect against each other. From quizzes to puzzles to small projects, these chosen students are putting their academic skills to the test.

Who will come out on top in the end? Will it be Crystal Academy as it does for the past fifteen years? Or will it be one of the other three schools who are still participating? And what's up with Twilight? What is she doing during the events?

* * *

 **[Beginning of Episode]**

Day 1 of the Columbia Games Junior League...

In the morning, Rarity decides to visit Rainbow's house to present her the clothing that she made for the partisipants. She brought two sets of clothing, because she knew that Sonic is resting there for the night after that brawl broke out at Canterlot High courtyard. She approches he door and knocks on it,

Rainbow answered the door, seeing her friend waiting for her outside.

"I just brought you some fresh clothing, just for the Columbia Games," Rarity said, presenting the box that she brought. "Mind if you tried them on?"

Rainbow assumed that the box Rarity is holding contains the clothing that she made. "Why did you make these?"

"I started working on these a few weeks ago when I heard that the Columbia Games Junior League is going to receive an all time low budget," Rarity explains why she made these. "I decided to sacrifice my own money to make clothing for all of us. And after hearing the chosen competitors, I personalized them to fit their background."

"And how much did you save the committee?" Rainbow asks, wondering how much money the committee will save from one person creating all the clothing and covering the cost.

Rarity calulated for moment, adjusting her work glassess on her head. "I spared a few hundred in material costs and the cost of the clothing itself," she answers. Then something came to her that she forgot to tell Rainbow. "Oh, and by the way, I delivered another piece of clothing, just for Sonic. Is he still here in your house? And if so, has he fully recovered?"

"Well," Rainbow said, looking inside to see Sonic and the parents sitting on the couch. "Of course he is."

"Hehe," Sonic chuckled, rubbing the part of his head that was once aching pain. "Wasn't as bad as we thought it would. injuries has been fully healed by the time I woke up."

Rarity continued to stare at Sonic. "Oh," she said. "Well, that's great news. Here, take these clothing and try them on. See if they fit."

Rainbow and Sonic took the clothing and took them to the nearest changing station they could find: the bathroom. Rainbow took the blue jacket and pink striped shorts, while Sonic took the pink jacket and blue banded shorts. Rainbow's shorts has white stripes going vertically down from her sides. Sonic's shorts have white bands that go around each leg, encompassing his thighs.

Once they exited and took a look at how each other looks in their new set of clothing, Rainbow couldn't help but laugh at how silly Sonic looks in pink clothing. Sonic could only shrug as Rainbow continued to laugh at him.

Rainbow was confused when she saw Rainbow laughing at Sonic. "Huh? But I thought that the pink jacket would go to Rainbow," she said.

Aleena took the time to lean on Rarity. "Don't blame him. Blame me," she said. "I asked you to make that uniform for him."

"Need I remind you that this color scheme is exactly what Sonic wore when imitating the 1990's?" Chuck brought up.

"After hearing that from Sonic's parents, I decided something," Bow said. "Why not switch the color scheme for Rainbow?"

The four parents then had a laugh.

"Oh...right," Rarity realizes. "I should've known this earlier."

* * *

Somewhere on the campus of Canterlot High, Silver is receiving samples of the sports equipment that's about to be used in the athletic events. Before replacement is necessary, Silver inspects the equipment to make sure that they are okay to use for the participating students.

"Let's see, how is our equipment going?" Silver says as he takes a look at the boxes presented to him. He opens up to find a sports bow. "Hmm, look completely fine," he observes. Then he tugs on the drawstring, which snaps. "Oh, uh...must've worn from being old. And from a lack of maintenance." He inspects the bow even more and accidentally snaps the bow in half. He frowns for a bit. "Well, that sucks," he concludes. "Now, what about the other sports equipment?"

Celestia walks around the hallways of Canterlot High, looking into the rooms where the academic events are being hosted. The first one that she took a peek in appears to been invaded by some camera crew. "Whoa! We have cameramen invading the classroom," she says, stepping away. She did not expect camera crew to be here, or allowed them permission to put camera in the classrooms. However, considering that the Columbia Games are about to start, she is left wondering. "Are...are we seriously broadcasting this to the wider world?"

One of the camera crew behind this stands up and walks up to Principal Celestia. "Yep, we're serious doing this," he answers. "Thanks to some generous students, the committee was able to afford having camera crew record what's going on during each event. And thanks to regaining public interest, it is now viable to present this like an official sports broadcast."

Celestia was left scratching her head. "Oh, that's interesting," she said. Then she wondered about how was this possible. "Who should I be thanking?"

"You can thank the rangers for returning interest to the Columbia Games Junior League," the cameraman replies.

Celestia opened her mouth to reply, but she realizes that she still needs to prepare the front courtyard for the real opening ceremony. "I'll thank them later," she decides. And then she leaves.

* * *

After years of being apart, Rankine and Abacus are finally making amends. And by amends, they mean arguing like they used to. Even after years of separation and not seeing each other, they still remember their feeling they have of each other.

As her parents sat at opposite sides of the table, Sunny Flare could not help but try to squeeze out a smile as she looks at her parents.

"So uh...mom. Dad," she said in an awkward tone, shifting her eyes between each parent. "How are things going on between you now?"

Sunny is not helping her parent's case.

Rankine pinched his nose as he prepared to say this to his ex-wife's face. A feeling of discomfort went though his lips. "Listen, Abacus," he began. "You may want to win this for the sixteen year in a row. And consequently end the Junior League all together." He then turned his face firectly towards Abacus. "But read my lips. This year isn't going to be as easy as the last fifteen years."

Abacus grew skeptical of why this year won't be as easy as the previous ten years. "And why is that?" she asks, questioning her school's potential to lose. "Is it because they are improving faster than we can? Have we really fallen behind that quickly? I don't believe this."

Rankine's frown grew even wider. He shakes his head in response. "No," he answers. "It's because fighting against your students are six of the defenders of Columbia. I know they can handle this."

Abacus is still skeptical about this. The defenders of Columbia, standing up against her? Ridiculous. "Rankine, enough of your nonsense," Abacus responds, not believing about this fact. "There's no way a group of teenagers are able to defend an entire country as large as Columbia, let alone have a chance against my school."

"They may not take on cosmic level dangers that threaten our planet's existence," Rankine brought up, "but they do serve to protect the people, risking their lives when danger comes. They may no longer be rangers now, but I know that they still sot some fighting spirit in them. As for Diamond Secondary School, which we know is always crushed by the other schools-"

"Let me guess," Abacus rudely interrupted. "They're going to be crushed again just like the last several years?"

Rankine lowers his head, allowing the shadows to envelop all but his eyes as he continued to stare at Abacus. "No," he replies. "I'm sure that they will put up a fight against you, even if it means another potential failure."

Sunny looked at the clock on the wall, noticing that it's almost time to go to the school, and by extension the first day of the Columbia Games. "Well, sorry if I interrupt you two, but it seems so satisfying see you two interact with each other again," she said. "But, did any of you look a the clock?" She pointed towards the wall clock. "It's almost time for school."

"Almost time to get to school?" Abacus asks. Then she stands up, getting ready for the day ahead. "Well, Sunny. Looks like it's time to take you to-"

"Hold up, Abacus," Rankine said, standing up while holding his hand out in front. "Let me handle the duty of taking Sunny to where she needs to go." He the walks up to Sunny and takes her hand as they procced out the door.

"Hold up, Rankine," Abacus said, placing her icy hand on Rankine's shoulder. He freezes almost instantly. "You have no right to touch my daughter!"

Rankine stopped to turn to Abacus. "Don't you mean our daughter?" he growls.

"She's mine now," Abacus declared, almost starting to roar. "After we declared a divorce, I took your daughter and took her in as my own."

Rankine turns towards Abacus slowly. "So?" he asks right in front of her face. "She's still our child. We have the privileges to do whatever is needed at the moment."

"Shut your mouth up, Rankine!" Abacus roared, freezing Rankine in place. Then she stands up straight and assures her self. "Good. Now let me take Sunny to school. Don't get in my way."

Abacus then leaves with Sunny, leaving Rankine frozen in the house. Rankine can't do anything but shift his eyes as Abacus leaves with Sunny, bringing him flashbacks of the day of the divorce twelve years ago.

* * *

Applejack, Thunder, Miles, and Knuckles are waiting for the others to arrive. Meanwhile, several students take it to the stands, waiting for the real opening ceremony to come. Everyone is still waiting on eight competitors.

The competitor's outfits has changed significantly from yesterday. They got fresh new jackets, fresh new shorts, and the colors are a bit brighter than some of their normal clothes. Everyone is looking quite stylish today.

"Hey guys!" they heard Rarity say. They turn their attention to their right as the two other competitors arrive.

At the same time, the competitors from Diamond Secondary arrive via bus and the trio of students exited the bus. They are looking quite stylish today, looking like they're ready to compete in fresh clothing rather than their regular everyday outfits.

"Oh! And here's the rest of the competitors," Miles said, looking at the others who had just arrived. "And they're looking good.

"Yeah," Wave agrees. "And it was all thanks to Rarity that made these uniforms for us to wear during the competition."

Rarity smiles as she is getting respect from her friends and rivals.

Sonic takes a look at Jet in his deep green outfit. "Wow Jet," he beings to compliment. "You and your friends are looking like you are ready to compete. None of those casual clothing nonsense. We want clothing that we don't see."

Jet takes a look at Sonic and Rainbow. He felt something about them that ticks him off. "You two look like you need to swap clothes because Sonic looks ridiculous in a pink jacket," he comments. He gets weird looks from the others.

"What can I say?" Sonic replies. "I'm not one of those manly man. I keep flowers in my room, if you want proof."

Applejack looks around and notices that there are still three students missing. "Say, what's taking Crystal Academy so long?" she asks.

Just then, Sunny, Lightning, and the mystery girl all arrived at the front courtyard of Canterlot High. They gasp and wheeze from running for so long.

"We're here, everyone," Lightning announces gasping for air. "Sorry we're late. Sunny has delayed us quite a bit."

"Thanks to my parents..." Sunny said, looking away.

Lightning quickly snaps back to her cocky, usual self complete with a smug grin. "But now that we're all here, let's get starting on beating each other up, shall we?" she says.

Rainbow turns towards the mystery girl and gets a suspicious feeling about her. So she walks up to the girl. "Who are you?" Rainbow asks. "I swear that I've seen you before."

The girl shivers as she hears the voice that kicked her out of this location earlier than expected. "Oh," the girl replies, trying her best to remain confident. "I'm...Twilight Sparkle. Hi?"

After hearing how awkward this girl feels, Rainbow gets the suspicion that something is wrong with her.

Celestia exits the door only to find that everyone necessary for the games is here and present. "Ahh, it looks like everyone is here, ready to get these games starting," she said. Then she raised her voice. "Okay, everyone. Let's get this started! For real this time."

* * *

The four teams of students gather up in clusters of four as the four principals of the four participating schools stand in front of them. The three groups each have a participating student from each of the participating schools. One group has Sonic, Rainbow, Jet, and Lightning. The second has Miles, Thunder, Wave, and Twilight. The third has Knuckles, Applejack, Storm, and Sunny.

Cadence walks up to Luna to give her a hug, relieved that everyone is fine. "Good to see that everyone's fine after the incident yesterday," she said.

"Oh, don't celebrate too early, Cadence," Luna replies. "We're just getting started."

Celestia walks up the podium and towards the microphone. She speaks to it, catching everyone's attention. "Alright, everyone," she beigns to announce. "The Columbia Games Junior League is about to start. Before we begin, I would like to remind you that we have camera crews at each of the events. We are broadcasting this for people to watch. Yes, I know. It's been a long time since they did this. But public interest has risen immensely compared to last year, making broadcasting a viable option."

The spectating students are left to whisper to each other as they discover that cameramen has been placed in the classroom to broadcast the event to the wider world. They didn't anticipate this event turning form a minor competition to something major straight from the previous year.

Celestia continued to announce through the opening ceremony "To get us started, let us go over how we'll handle this year's games, at last for the academic events" she said. "For starters, each of the teams will be separated into three groups. Group A..."

A sign popped up from behind the members of Group A, hitting Jet in the back of the head.

"Ow! My head!" Jet yells as he rubs the back of his head.

"Told you not to stand over there," Sonic responds.

"Group B..."

Someone sneaks up from behind the members of Group B to hold up a sign. This startles Twilight, who then ducks down, yelping. "What's with this?" she complains. "That scared me!" The others look at her, with Lightning and Sunny growling at her.

"And Group C," Celestia finishes.

A sign pops up right in front of Group C, smacking Knuckles in the face. Sunny mocking laughs at Knuckles, while Storm looks down at Knuckles while scratching his head.

"Okay, who did this?" Applejack asks, groaning over the stupid decision. She then helps Knuckles get back to his feet.

Aleena comes up to the microphone to continue with the announcement. "Each group will participate in a single event," she told everyone. "Once an event ends, no other group may participate in the event again. You must move on to the next scheduled event. There will be up to three events happening at the same time, each being participated by the three groups. You will have up to thirty minutes to complete each event, and at most ten minutes to transition to the next event."

The participating students receive a slip of paper displaying all the events that they will participate in. The times when these events will start and end are included.

"Are you ready, participators?" Cadence asks everyone. "Because once the bell rings, you must rush over to the first event on your list provided to you. Get to your destinations as soon as possible."

The clock ticks down towards the beginning of the first event.

"On your marks," Cadence announces in anticipation of the bell. "Get set..."

Right on cue, the first bell goes off, prompting everyone to rush inside to the events.

"...Go?" Cadence finishes. She looks at her watch, thinking that she mistimed her announcement.

* * *

The first round of events will take place in a workshop classroom, a science classroom, and the kitchen.

"Group A is doing carpentry," Cadence announces as students and spectators wander the hallways looking for the rooms where the events are being held. "Group B, chemistry. And Group C, cooking. Choose wisely spectators, because once the next bell rings, you cannot move over to watch another event that is going on."

The carpentry event is on, and Group A is going at a strong start. The participator's goal is to create a birdhouse with the materials provided, all at the same time and within the time limit.

Sonic wants to finish this as quickly as possible. So he slams down on the nails as past as possible. Unfortunately for him, he hit himself with the hammer in his rush to finish the birdhouse. "Gah!" Sonic yelled as he slammed his hammer down on his hand. He drops the hammer as he clamps on his thumb, checking for injury.

Diamond Secondary principal Curtis is watching over the event and makes a comment about Sonic's performance. "And Sonic lives up to his surname as he accidentally hit his thumb with a hammer."

Jet and Lightning got distracted by Sonic's yelp of pain, while Rainbow only shifted her eyes towards Sonic before moving her attention back towards the birdhouse she is making. She's pretty sure that Sonic is fine. No need to drop what she's doing to check on him. After all, her notorious rival is in the same room, and she does not want her to win.

While Jet is distracted, he slammed his hammer down on the back of his hand. "Ow!" he screams as he drops what he is doing. Jet clamps on to the back of his hand, checking for any bones he might've accidentally fractured.

"Oops," Curtis commentated. "Jet nearly smashed his bones by looking away."

"You okay?" Rainbow asks, shifting her eyes towards Jet for a moment.

"Just ignore me!" Jet yells.

Lightning looks at the two injured boys and couldn't help but laugh. "Haha!" she taunted. "Sucks to be you, boys." Then she hears the sound of wood being splintered.  
"Huh?" Lightning wonders where the sound came from. She looks at the other birdhouses, only to find that they are fine. She then looks down at her birdhouse and realizes that she broke a plank while she's looking away.

Curtis shook his head with disapproval And Lightning broke her birdhouse by not looking at where she's landing her hammer," he announces, much to the shock of the spectators. "She's disqualified!"

"What?" Lightning gasps, dropping the hammer.

Curtis went up to Lightning with an intimidating look. "You never had this happen to you before, have you?" he asks.

Lightning shook her head, as this was her first try into carpentry.

After the pain subsided, Sonic can continue to work on his birdhouse. Before he begins, he takes a moment to calm himself down. "Okay Sonic," he says to himself. "You've got twenty minutes left to finish this. No need to rush though it. You've got this."

Sonic then picks up his hammer and gets back to work.

Meanwhile, in the chemistry event, participators are trying to make something erupt out of the beaker and not make a mess out of things.

After pouring the powder into the beaker, he then hears some strange clicking noise. He looks over to hits side and catches Twilight trying to scan him with that scanner of hers.

"Hey! Twilight!" Miles shouted. "What are you doing inspecting my own body?"

Twilight then looks up, away from her FR scanner. "Oh," she replies, adjusting her lab goggles. "I-uh...detected some FR waves emitting frim your bodies. Very faint ones."

Miles was confused by what Twilight meant by FR waves, as he has never heard of them before in any scientific journal. "What are FR waves?" he asks, curious by what Twilight is saying.

Twilight looks over to her beaker, wondering when there'll be a chemical reaction. "Well..." she begins, but then she stops herself, wondering if this is a good time to explain what FR means to this stranger.

Then, a substance erupted out of the beakers, shooting into the ceiling. However, it was a bit too powerful as seconds later, the substance landed back on the floor in the form of a foam. This foam covered two lab stations, as well as Miles and Twilight. The two scientists, however, were completely unfazed by this as they did not break their gaze at each other.

Aleena is watching over the event and starts to wonder if the smart people the schools chose to participate in this are really smart at all. "Somebody put a little bit too much powder into their beakers," she commentated. "And by somebody, I mean two students."

Miles and Twilight get disapproving looks from the spectators.

After Wave poured powder into the beaker, she looks at the solution that is bubbling in the beaker, wondering when will the reaction begins. She then hovers her eye over the beaker, with the lab goggles touching the rim.

Aleena notices this lab safety violation and is quick to point out this infraction. "Wave! Safety first!" she yells.

Wave is startled and trips over her shoes and falls on her back.

The people at Group C are trying to make waffles. A group of judges is waiting near the windows, waiting to have a taste of what these kids can do.

While stirring up the batter, Applejack starts to near strange noises coming from the station next to her. "Huh?" she says as she stops. Then she looks to her side, only to find Storm stirring the batter rather viciously. Applejack doesn't know hot to react to this. "What the-?"

Cadence is watching over the event, waiting to comment on anything of interest that happens. Once she did catch Storm stirring the batter hard to the point of splashing batter everywhere, she is quick to make a comment. "Storm is cooking up a...storm..." she says, unable to find another word for storm without saying Storm's name. She looks to her side, trying her best to keep a straight face. "err..."

Applejack, frustrated with the mess that Storm is making, decided to take a break from mixing the batter to inform him about something. "Hey! Storm!" Applejack said.

Storm stops and turns towards Applejack. "What is it, cowgirl?" he asks.

"Would you mind if you'd just calm down with the stirring?" she asks.

Storm does not catch what Applejack is saying. "Pardon?" he asks.

"It's not about how fast you mix the batter," Applejack informs. "It's about how long. Now stop stirring so vigorously. You're making a mess." Applejack then resumes in stirring the batter.

Storm scratches head in confusion. "Huh? What?" he asks again. "Are you sure that's true?"

"Trust me," Applejack replies.

"Okay then."

* * *

The thirty minutes are up. The bell rungs to signify that the first round of events are over.

"The first events are over," Celestia announces. "Let's tally up the results."

In the carpentry event, Sonic manages to create a decent looking birdhouse that looks a bit similar to Rainbow's, with the difference being that the boards are built a bit mor properly. Jet's looks lopsided, while Lightning is disqualified for breaking a board with her hammer.

"Sonic recovered from an injury and finished his birdhouse in time," Curtis reported. "As a prize for making a splendid recovery while still making something decent, Team Emerald gets the first point!"

The crowd of student cheers as Sonic finds himself winning the event for his team.

"I won?" Sonic asks. Then he went into a cheering spree, jumping with his raised pumped fists. "Hooray! I scored a point for my team!"

Rainbow planted her face into the desk in defeat. "Oh come on!" she yelled.

Meanwhile, Jet shook his head in shame as he knew that he lost horrible. Lightning, on the other hand, was still angry that she lost because she broke a board.

Celestia then reads her report she's gotten from the science room. "Going over into the science room for the chemistry section," she continues, "Miles and Twilight has made a mess out the place and Wave violated safety protocols. Repeatedly. Therefore, for going the experiment properly, Thunder gains a point for Team Canterlot."

While the rest of the crowd cheers, Thunder seems unsatisfied given how he won because the smart kids are acting stupid.

"You guys are supposed to be smart," Thunder says. "Are you trying to pull some victory points for doing dumb stuff?"

In the kitchen, Cadense gives her report to the principal. "Knuckles makes for a horrible chef," she observes. "Storm makes a mess, and Applejack overcooked the waffles. The point goes to Team Crystal."

Sunny claps her hands unenthusiastically.

Knuckles was left scratching his head. "Uhh, what happened exactly?"

The students then transition to the next round of events.

"Moving on to the next events..." Celestia announces.

* * *

The second round of events begins.

"So this is part of the curriculum," Sonic commented as he and the others perform in the speed-cubing event. "Solving puzzle cubes." The cube then jumps out of his hand. "Oh shoot-" Sonic gasps as he reaches over the table to his dropped cube, tilting the table over.

Meanwhile, in the math event, Miles is doing some summation practice. "The sum of all the values from..." he began, before hearing some clicking noise. He knew that it had to be Twilight, who is sitting right across from him. He gave her a disapproving stare. "Would you please cut that out?" he asks

Twilight just then looks up, and shrieks. She hides her scanner behind her.

Group C is doing some sketching and is trying to match the line art of a vase filled with flowers as closely as possible.

"It's quite hard," Knuckles comments. "My meaty hands is getting in the way..."

The other competitors are having no problem sketching, except for Storm. He to is suffering from the same problem as Knuckles.

The third round the goes off.

A little gift from the students from Primp Academy. Puyo Puyo Columns. A puzzle-duel game that dumps the opponent with nuisance blocks whenever a match is made.

"Oh yeah," Rainbow beings to sarcastically say as she strategically places a block somewhere, starting a chain. "Because playing video games is totally an academic skill that is necessary to have. Especially competitive puzzle games."

Jet looks a little closer at the nuisance pile that's building up above his board. "How big is my nuisance pile-" he asks, before being interrupted by an avalanche of nuisance blocks. "Oh bird feathers!" Jet yelped as he got defeated.

The others laugh at Jet's inability to set up a counter attack when he had the chance, much to the embarrassment of Jet.

Lighting laughed at Jet right up until she looks back at her board. Blocks fall from the top and blocks her off, much to her surprise. "Oh shoot!" she shrieks as she gets defeated.

"Serves you right, player who took her eyes off her own board," Sonic laughs.

"We are experiencing some circuit issues," Thunder announces as a clicking sound goes off in the background. Then he looks towards the clicking sound who turns out to be Twilight. "Someone won't keep on inspecting me."

Twilight receives some disapproving looks from the Crystal Academy spectators and all the competitors. The Crystal Academy spectators shook their head in disapproval, while the competitors are wondering why Twilight brought this thing along.

"Five...six...seven" Applejack counted. Then the one she counted turns out to be a fake. "-no, wait. Six..."

Here comes the fourth round of events.

"Okay," Sonic said, holding a thumbtack that has "Gambia" on it. "Now we're getting into the more obscure places. Anyone remember Gambia?"

Attached on the world map on the table, there are the thumbtacks labeled Columbia, Nile, Indus, Amazon, Colorado, Rhine, Niger...

Miles and Thunder get even more suspicious of Twilight as the events go by.

"Twilight. What are you doing?" Miles interrogated.

Twilight looks at the two boys who are staring at her. Both of which she detected FR waves radiating from. "Nothing!" she answers, trying to weasel her way out. "I was just-"

"Looking at us?" Thunder asks.

Twilight could only look a the boys who she feels are threatening her. Some red aura builds up in her hands, which gets absorbed into her amulet. Nobody seems to be noticing this, however.

Knuckles is looking at a spot the difference poster and trying to find something a feature that is either missing or different. "I'm pretty sure that I saw this thing right over here," he asks himself. Then he points to the frog. A buzzer goes off behind him, sending a red light. "Gah! I lied to myself!"

The penultimate event of the academic day is a spelling bee, where everyone is called to the auditorium to try to spell out as many words as possible. As the rounds continue, the words become increasingly longer and more complex, the point that some of the words are really obscure.

One of the first people to get eliminated if Rainbow. While not the first one to get eliminated, she did mess up on a rather uncommon word. She is tasked with the word "Hippopotamus".

"P-P-O-T-" Rainbow spells out. And then she gets a buzzer, making her wrong. "What did I miss?" Rainbow asks, confused over how the word is spelled.

"I feel so dirty spelling this word out," Thunder comments. "Vernacular."

Next one to get eliminated is Sonic, who fails to spell one of the words he most commonly misspells. He is tasked to spell out the word "Immediately". "M-M-E-A-" he beings to say, before getting an incorrect buzzer. "What? I swear I heard meat in there. Did you?"

One by one, the competitors get eliminated by increasingly complex and obscure words. Out of all the groups, Group B is the only group who has a single remaining competitor. This group is the one to move on to the final event of the academic day. A quiz based on the trivia behind the Columbia Games, as well as other stuff.

When Wave, the last of the students, finished and submitted her quiz, it is time to announce the winner. "Group B has submitted their work for the final event of the academic day," Cadence announces. "While we're grading it, let's show a raise of hands. Who did you think won this event? Is it Wave? Thunder? Twilight? Miles?"

The raise of hands was a lot higher than expected for some of the schools. Emerald High and Canterlot High are getting a lot of bets. Crystal Academy only got a raise of hands mostly from the Crystal Academy students, and not all of them voted for Crystal Academy. Meanwhile, Diamond Secondary gets little support from the spectators.

After a few minutes, it is time to announce the winner.

"The grades has been submitted," Cadence announces. "Let's see who won their school the final point." Above the students' head, numbers are being flipped though as the score arrives. "Wait for it..."

Everyone is sweating in anticipation for the winner of this event.

"BAM!" Cadence yelled as the numbers showed up.

Miles got a score of 92 out of 100. Thunder, 88. Wave, 85. And Twilight, 97.

"Twilight and Team Crystal claims victory for the final event!" Cadence announces.

There was very little applause going on in the audience's part. Meanwhile, Miles, Thunder, and Wave all slam their heads into the tables in defeat.

The Crystal Academy students was rather unenthusiastic about Twilight's victory for them, causing Twilight to feel unappreciated. She's not getting the respect that she deserves, causing an red aura to flow out of her body and into her amulet.

Jet walked up the stage up to Wave. Wave look up to Jet, still crying over her loss. "Well, Wave. You've fought well," Jet says. And then he looks at the score. "And as usual, Diamond Secondary School got last place. Though, with a much closer margin than before."

"You okay, Thunder?" Rainbow asks as she and the others walked up to him.

"I'm sorry," Thunder apologizes. "I was just outsmarted by the others."

"Well, you did outsmart me," Wave said.

Applejack pointed at Wave. "Can you really call that outsmarting?" she asks.

Sonic came up to Miles to pat him on the back, comforting him. "Good work there, Miles," he said. "You did good there, even if we did not won."

"It's okay," Miles said. "This is only the first day"

The twelve competitors stand in a line in front of the audience, grouped by school.

Cadence holds her clipboard as she announces the scores of each of the schools. "We have tallied up all the winners of each event," she announces, "and the results are as follows." She looks at her list and counts up all of the wins each school got. "Out of the fourteen events hosted today, Team Crystal takes the lead with five wins. Team Emerald and Team Canterlot have tied with four wins each, and poor Team Diamond only got a single win. But at least they fought well."

"That's the end of the first day of the Columbia Games Junior League," Celestia said. "Join us next time for when we're starting the athletic events. See you there."

* * *

As afternoon approaches, Sonic found Sunny lounging around outside the school, looking disgruntled. She leans next to a trash can.

"So, uh, Sunny," Sonic said, walking up to her. "You're still here." Sunny does not respond, only with a grumpy look. Sonic picks up on this. "Why do you look so grumpy today? Didn't your school won yet again?"

"Why don't you go away from me, imposter?" Sunny asks, looking threatening.

Sonic was startled at first, but he quickly goes back to being calm. "Look, lady," he says. "We all noticed. When Twilight won, we noticed that your school isn't the most enthusiastic about that victory. Why is that?"

Sunny becomes increasingly annoyed about this blue pest that just won't go away. "Would you please stop bugging me, blue boy?" she asks. Sonic is unfazed by Sunny raising her voice. "You know what, forget this." She then picks up a trash can and dumps the entire thing onto Sonic, ending it with the trash can on his head. She then walks away, back to her school. "Smell you later, Sonic Trash."

Sonic groans as he feels insulted.

Rainbow walks up to Sonic, seeing that he has a trash can on his face. "So, uh, Sonic," Rainbow begins to ask. "How did it go?"

Before Sonic answers, he takes the trash can off of him, taking off bits of trash that is still sticking to him. "She just insulted me in front of my face, then dumped a garbage can on my head," he answers. "Also, the custodian is going to be pissed when he sees this mess."

Rainbow looks down, only to find a pile of garbage bags laying there on the ground.

"Crystal Academy students are real jerks, aren't they?" Rainbow asks. "I mean, did you notice? Whenever we won, Sunny or Lightning would react rather harshly to their loss. But, did you notice who I left out?"

Sonic realizes that Rainbow left out someone. "Oh yeah. Twilight," he answers. "That girl who seems to be always quiet."

Rainbow stares off into the distance as she prepares to tell Sonic this. "She doesn't act like she's from Crystal Academy, does it?" she asks, catching Sonic's attention. "In fact, I think she's nervous."

Sonic was getting curious about this Twilight girl that they just met. "Nervous?" he questioned. "About what?"

Rainbow shot her gaze back towards Sonic. "Do I look like I attend Crystal Academy?"

"Uhh...no," Sonic replies.

"Then I have no clue," Rainbow replies back.

* * *

Mr. Mobius is the head of the committee being the Columbia Games in all the leagues. When he's not overlooking a country wide event, he does commentary on sports events in the professional level.

In his office, an assistant came in to provide details about what happened during the Junior League of the Columbia Games.

"The first day of the Columbia Games is over," the assistant reported, "and already, we're seeing some improvements on behalf of Crystal Academy's rivals. Emerald High and Canterlot High has won more games than before, and Diamond Secondary School has saw its first win in an event in ten years."

Mr. Mobius is quite surprised to hear this. "My goodness," he responds. "No wonder everyone's excited to see these two schools rise up to the rankings and crush Crystal Academy. People just wanted to see the rangers win."

"Oh yeah," the assistant said, reminded that two of the schools have former rangers. "It's all thanks to the rangers."

"Just one more thing before we close this day off," Mr. Mobius said, stopping his assistant from exiting.

The assistant is curious about what her boss has to say. "What is it?" she asks.

Mr. Mobius looks through the revenue spread sheet and points out that the ad revenue made from broadcasting the games is five times the amount from the last time they broadcasted the Junior League live. "There's a sudden increase in the revenue we've been getting from broadcasting the Columbia Games Junior League," he notes, "likely due to the rise in viewership. We've gotten two million people watching the events from their homes or portable streaming device, and as a result we've gotten thousands more dollars to add to our budget."

The assistant was surprised to hear this. "What? Are you serious?" she gasps.

Mr. Mobius nodded. "Yes." Then he made a forecast. "And this number is expected to increase tomorrow as people spread this news to everyone that they know. We've gotten so much additional money for us to rent out the sports field in Emerald City for an entire day. You know what that means, do you?"

"You're kidding, Mr. Mobius."

Mr. Mobius then made an announcement to his office assistant. "We're going to host the second day of the Columbia Games right there!" he announces.

The assistant shook her head in disbelief. "No way..." she said.

"Yes way!" Mr. Mobius said, confident that this will work. "Just notify the competitors tomorrow and make sure that they come here so that we can start the second day."

"But, why this sudden change of plans?" the assistant asks.

"Like I said," Mr. Mobius said, repeating himself. "We have the budget to do this. See you tomorrow."

 **To be Continued...**

* * *

 **From the Author:**

This feels much more involved than the few events we see in the Friendship Games. Now, there are even more events being played out, bumping the number up to fourteen. Expect more events to come in the next day.

Twilight's acting a bit strange throughout the day. She appears to be scanning every inch of the school looking for those FR waves and analyzing two people constantly. This cost Crystal Academy a couple of events. With her performance dragging them down, its reasonable that the other students of Crystal Academy would get pretty disgusted by this girl's performance.

However, there appears to be a stream of red aura coming into that amulet of hers whenever she feels something bad is happening to her. What is up with her?

Next day, we're going athletic. Train up, former rangers.

* * *

Written by TheAPPstore

Sonic the Hedgehog characters, property of Sega

My Little Pony characters, property of Hasbro


	11. The Columbia Games: Part 3

**Episode 11**

 **"The Columbia Games, Part 3"**

* * *

The second day of the Columbia Games Junior League beings as the twelve students move on to the next round. However, instead of hosting the second day at Canterlot High like in the first day, things will be moving over to Emerald City, where people have already prepared events for them.

Athletics will be this day's theme as students challenge each other on the physical level. While most of the competitors have some skills when it comes to athletics, one is totally inept at physical activity. As the day continues, things get worst for the athletically inept student who is unlucky enough to be chosen to represent her school.

* * *

 **[Beginning of Episode]**

Morning dawns on Canterlot City as students are getting ready for the second day of the Columbia Games.

Rainbow is dozing off into the morning as her clock reaches her alarm time. She's getting ready to participate in the athletic events of the Columbia Games, as today is the athletic day of the Junior League.

Instead of her usual alarm clock going off, her father Bow decides to fill that role for her.

"Wake up, shining colors!" Bow yells from outside Rainbow's room.

Rainbow was startled awake by the sound of her dad. "Whoa!" she yelped, jumping off the bed. "Huh? Wha-?"

After a rush job with the breakfast, Rainbow is in her competition clothing from yesterday. Bow pushes her out the door as he explains what's going on.

"Get your body ready, kid," Bow tells Rainbow. "Because we're traveling to Emerald City."

Rainbow was both shocked and confused about the change in location. "Emerald City?" she asks. "But why?"

"It has been announced that the second day of the games will be hosted at that city," Bow explains. "Now get going! We don't want to miss the train!"

* * *

Meanwhile, Twilight is standing in front of a school bus with her two group partners, Sunny and Lightning, standing in front of her. They deliver the news that the location is being changed just yesterday.

"We're changing locations?" Twilight asks. "Right now?"

Sunny closes her pocket makeup kit. "Apparently, the committee changed the host city at the last moment when they realized that their budget has gone larger than expected," she explains. She then turns more directly at Twilight. "So instead of a school that's hosting the games like the last several years, we're going to an official professional grade sports park to perform the second day of the events. Now pack up! We'd better get there as soon as possible!"

Twilight turns away from Sunny and Lightning, rubbing her arm.

"What's the matter?" Lightning mockingly asks. "Don't want to go? Oh, right. You aren't athletic. Well, since Principal Cinch chose you as well, it's not like you have a choice in this, now do you?"

Without looking at Lightning, Twilight responds, "No. I don't."

* * *

Within the city boundaries of Emerald City is the famous Olympic Park. Built in the Downtown District of Emerald City, this park provinces many venues for various sports, from the casual to Olympic Events. Athletes from around the country come to this place to hone their skills in the Olympic events, or to host practice matches for future games.

Today, the park is being used as the location of the second day of the Columbia Games Junior League.

Team Emerald and Team Diamond have already arrived at the park, going the set up for the opening ceremony for today. As usual, there are four circles arranged like vertices on a square. There's a spot for each of the participating schools.

"They just had to change the host city at the last moment, don't they?" Sonic asks as he beings to place the cones down.

Jet finishes placing the cones down. he then turns to Sonic, pointing at him. "And it's all thanks to you!" he says. "You and your friends. Who happen to be rangers. Well, used to be. You guys are famous, so much that when the Columbia Games roll around everyone suddenly remembered that the Junior League still exist and begged sports networks to broadcast the events live."

"People just wanted to see their favorite heroes shine again after that incident on Babylon Garden," Sonic commented as he decides to take a break on the sets. Then he turns towards Jet. "You guys still remember that, right?"

Sonic looks around and notices several cameramen setting up cameras to record the event and broadcast it around the country. "I can't believe that we're now famous here in Columbia," Sonic said. "I'd bet the people watching are anticipating the beginning of the second day of the games."

"Well, we can't get started if the students from Canterlot High and Crystal Academy aren't here," Jet reminded. "So, let's wait for them."

After a while, Miles, Knuckles, Wave, and Storm have all returned to the opening area. They wait in their school circles, waiting for the others to arrive.

Sonic then catches six people approaching them. "There," he said, pointing towards the entrance. The others looked to where he is pointing. "The other competitors have arrived."

Rainbow then trips over a bulge in the path and falls on her face.

"Nice job walking, Rainbow Crash," Lightning maliciously taunts.

Sonic stares at Lightning with disapproval. "Crystal Academy," he mutters. "Still as harsh and mean as before..."

* * *

The opening ceremony of the second day beings. Spectators from the four schools and across the city flock into Olympic Park to watch the events in person right in front of their eyes. The student spectators in particular are excited to see their school win, except for Crystal Academy for some reason. Maybe they're used to winning and simply no not care.

The twelve students get into their positions as a speech is being delivered, welcoming everyone to the second day of the games.

"The second day of the Columbia Games Junior League has begun!" Cadence announced, standing on a podium. "Before we begin, let us remind you about how today will be run this time."

"There are four types of events that are hosted for today," Celestia begins to explain. "Pair, Solo, Duel, and All."

Each type of event then gets explained in further detail.

"Pair events involves teaming up with a partner that came from the same school to compete against the other rival pairs," Celestia explains. "We'll be doing this six times to make sure each competitor gets to play a Pair event twice."

"Next up are the Solo events," Cadence continued. "These events are participated alone, and don't involve a partner to play. These events will be played alongside the Pair events and will be scheduled so that everyone has a chance to play them. If a Solo event involves two people from different teams competing against each other, we call that a Duel event."

"Finally, there is the All event," Aleena beings to finish. "This type of event involves all participants. They are usually played at the end of the day. We currently only have two scheduled for today, but we're not going to tell you what they are until it comes."

Some massager comes up to deliver a message to Cadence. She grabs it and reads it out.

"Oh, and here's special report from Silver," Cadence beings to announce. "Apparently, before the sun rose up, someone stole all the equipment that's used for the events. We just discovered this just this morning, and we don't have the time to order a new batch of equipment for the games. We do not want to delay this any further. To replace these, we'll be using the equipment that he specially made to reduce the cost of equipment just in case something broke. All the equipment complies to the competitive standard, so they are okay to use."

Celestia then continues on with the speech. "Well, with that out of the way, let's see what our first event of the day is," she said.

A screen flashes on, flipping through several pictures at with each passing second. The participators are tense as they wonder what event they will participate in.

After several seconds of seemingly random rolling, the flipping stops and lands on an event. The picture depicts a tennis court.

"Tennis Tournament!" Celestia announces. Then she goes to the section detailing the pairs. "And our pairs are...Sonic and Miles! Rainbow and Applejack! Jet and Wave! And Lightning and Sunny."

The four pairs who are announced looked around for a moment. Meanwhile, the ones who are not chosen to pair up are confused about what's going on. That is until they realized that they are being split into a pair and a solo.

"The rest will go on to the solo event," Celestia continues. "Which will be..."

The screen flips through several pictures once again, before landing on an arrow reaching a target.

"Archery!" Celestia announces.

The crowd cheers as the events are being announced.

"Alright, participators," Cadence said. "The events will begin shortly, so get to the locations of the events. Spectators, you have a choice in which event you're going to watch. Are you going for the Tennis Tournament? Or are you looking forward to Archery? Choose wisely, because once you enter, you can't switch. So, if everyone is ready..."

Cadence pulls out an airhorn and sounds it off. Immediately, the eight chosen to participate in the Tennis Tournament went in the direction of the courts. The four chosen to go for the Archery went straight for the archery area. Following after them is a flock of spectators who want to watch the event of their choosing.

* * *

First Pair event, Tennis Tournament. Sonic and Miles are currently competing against Rainbow and Applejack. The two pairs continue to rally the ball back and fourth for what it seems like several minutes.

As Rainbow continues to hit the ball over the net, she grows bored and tired. "We could go one like this forever," she said. Then she places her mind out of the game for a moment. "Just keep on rallying the ball back and forth, forever and ev-"

Because Rainbow was not paying attention, she is hit in the head with a ball knocked over the net by Miles. The points accumulated over the round goes to Sonic and Miles. But the round has gotten so long that Sonic and Miles are declared the victors of his bracket. The crowd goes wild after Miles gets the victory for this school.

Applejack stares disapprovingly at Rainbow as she sits there, rubbing her head where it hurts. "You should've focused, Rainbow," she said.

Meanwhile, in the archery section, Knuckles drawing hard on his bow. However, his arm cannot stop shaking because of an uncomfortable feeling he's having. It has something to do with Twilight, who continues to use her scanner to search for FR waves.

"What is she doing bringing that thing into the field?" Knuckles asks, beginning to lose his grip on the drawstring.

Involuntarily, Knuckles releases the bow and sends the arrow flying. Because of his shaking arm, he completely misses the target in the distance. This has Knuckles receiving disapproving from the spectators. Meanwhile, the spectators from Crystal Academy gave a shook of the head towards Twilight.

Sitting nearby is Silver. Since he is the designer behind the equipment being used, he has to monitor others using his equipment to make sure that they don't break. He has only brought one completive grade bow to the games and he does not want that to break mid-event.

Silver took one look at Twilight before giving a response. "Just ignore her," he said. "I'm sure that she'll stop."

Knuckles grumbled at the suggestion Silver has made.

The second solo event is the first of the duel event. Now they're doing a Fencing Tournament. Whoever is the most skillful with swordplay and dodging will be the victor.

In this round, Sunny is pitted against Sonic, and Sunny is determined to beat Sonic. "I'm going to beat you Sonic," she told him as she continues to thrust her saber at him. "I'm going to beat you!"

Sonic does not attack and repeatedly teases Sunny by jumping away whenever she thrusts.

Sonic grew a bored look as he continues to dodge. "How about no?" he asks. And then he makes a sudden thrust into Sunny's torso, making Sonic the winner of the round. The crowd cheers at Sonic's victory over Crystal Academy, while the Crystal Academy students gasp in shock.

Meanwhile, Sunny feels humiliated by her loss.

"Lightning is going for a first class trick," Cadence says during the cycling event.

Lightning approaches the ramp and performs a series of tricks in the air. However, she lands on her side, granting her a poor score.

"...And she fails to land correctly," Cadence reported.

The crowd had a laugh at Lightning's expense. She tried way too hard to show herself off.

Meanwhile, in the Basketball Tournament, Rainbow and Thunder are playing against Lightning and Twilight. While Twilight does not even try, Lightning grew frustrated and tries to attack Rainbow. Between rounds, she ran up to Rainbow with her fist clutched, ready to punch.

Rainbow, meanwhile, proceeds to look away. "Yeah, let's totally beat a professional up," she said as Lightning draws closer. "I'm sure I'll win this time! Well then too bad!" Just when Lightning is right up to her back, Rainbow springs her fist and hits Lightning in the face, knocking her back. "Because you did not see that coming!"

In the obstacle course event, Twilight was having some drama when it comes to going through the course. She jumps over a barrier and lands on her face. Much to the pain of her Crystal Academy spectators.

"Aww," Aleena groans. "She failed to land correctly."

"Twilight!" One of the students yelled. "You're going to make us lose!"

Twilight got up and adjusts her glasses. "Oh! Sorry about that!" she apologizes. Meanwhile, a red aura is emanating from her body and into her amulet.

The spectators were much more interested in Sonic's performance. He is doing quite well in the event, plowing through the course. At one point, he jumps on a high platform and lands on lower platform perfectly fine. The crowd goes wild in seeing this amazing performance.

"And Sonic pulls off a landing straight out of Speed Hedgehog!" Aleena announces.

Meanwhile, Abacus Cinch gets a bit suspicious about these students she's competing against.

"Twilight!" she shouts from her seat. "What are you doing? You're going to make us lose!"

Twilight gets up and looks towards Principal Cinch, the red aura continuing to flow into her amulet. "Putting me into this is a huge mistake," she said.

"What do you mean a huge mistake?" Cinch yells with fuming anger.

Twilight looks ahead, feeling very nervous about the events. "Starting to wonder if allowing myself to represent Crystal Academy was a good idea," she mutters quietly. Then she continues on and continues to struggle with the obstacles, much to the pain of the Crystal Academy students who are watching her.

* * *

From earliest to latest, the events are as followed. The Pair events are Tennis, Volleyball, Basketball, Obstacle Course Duo, Canoe, and Kickball. The Solo and Duel events are Archery, Fencing, Long Jump, Cycling, Obstacle Course Solo, and Swordplay.

The thirtieth event is an all out Dodgeball war between the four schools. Twelve students throw balls repeatedly at each other for several rounds to claim victory.

This event is interesting, because by the end of the seventh round, the two teams remaining are Canterlot High and Emerald High. The last one standing are Sonic and Rainbow, who has to hit a ball at each other to win. However, the final minutes dragged on and the two teens couldn't decide who should take the victory. Spectators are waiting for someone to throw a ball.

After five minutes of nothing happening, the round is declared a tie between Canterlot High and Emerald High as both teams won the same number of rounds. Much to the chagrin of those who want one of the teams to win.

In an interview after the Volleyball event, Rainbow reveals that she and Sonic felt a bit too loyal to each other to hurt each other if it means getting a victory for their team. Naturally, Amy gets a bit of a jealousy rage and attempts to attack Rainbow by charging into her hammer. Security was called in and Amy had her hammer confiscated for the remainder of the games.

* * *

After hours of competing in the athletic events, it is time. As the afternoon rolls around, it is time to reveal the fourteenth and final event of the day.

Spectators and participators gather at Olympic Park Station looking out into a ramp that leads outside and into the park.

"Here it comes!" Cadence announces. "The final event of the Athletic Day. Everyone's excited to see this event go live, so let's reveal it now!"

The monitor in front of the competitors turns on, revealing the final event of the day. The monitor contains a picture of a hoverboard.

"It's Air Board Riding time!" Cadence announces with enthusiasm.

The crowd was divided on if having this event end off the day was a good idea, as they don't want a repeat of what happened the last time this event was hosted. Others say that technology marches on and researchers are listening to events related to them. They assessed what's wrong and how to fix it to prevent future incidents.

Not even the competitors are immune to this divide. "What? Hoverboards?" Rainbow gasps in surprise upon discovering that she's riding them again.

"We're riding these again?" Applejack asks.

Spectators begin to ask if something has changed with these hoverboards.

"These boards that run on air have been tested before," Cadence begins to answer. "But after the tournament at the beginning of the year, improvements have been made based on what happened there. First things first..."

Event officials came in and hand out the boards to the participators.

Every board has a top side and a bottom side. The top side is flat, while the bottom has a surface made of some light metal and fans. However, the colors of the boards is unique with each racer.

Sonic's board is primarily blue, but has yellow and white stripes and accents going around it. Two additional exhaust ports are attached to the rear, adding to the main exhaust port. Miles' is yellow and white with miniature airplane parts attached to the rear. Knuckles' board is mostly red aside from some darker red and white accents.

Rainbow's board has a distinct rainbow out at the front. It's mostly cyan, with four exhaust ports at the rear each in a different color. Applejack's board is red, green, and yellow. It has a stem a the rear, making the board resemble a multicolored apple. Thunder's is black and has two golden lightning bolts going down the side. At the rear are some airplane parts.

Lightning's board is green, with orange lightning bolts going down the bottom of the board. Twilight's is in shades of purple, and has airplane parts attacked to the ear. Sunny's board is yellow, with some darker spots dotting its surface.

Jet's board is in shades in shades of green, aside from the white and yellow arrows that go along the top. Storm has his board in gray and yellow, though not resembling the prototype boards. Finally, Wave's board is in a lighter shade of purple than Twilight's. In addition, yellow flame accents are seen going through the top and sides.

Rainbow and her team received their boards, and discovered that their appearance has completely changed. "What the-?" Rainbow gasped upon seeing the colors.

"They've completely changed!" Applejack said, gawking at her board's new look.

Rarity goes up to the barriers to give an explanation. "They're no longer that boring generic gray," she said. "Now they've got some personality behind them!"

"That's right, Rarity," Mr. Mobius replies. "We've customized them to fit the rider who's using them. We also gotten feedback that our hoverboards remind people of a racing game called Air Racers. Thanks to those feedback, we've upgraded them to take advantage of skills. You may notice around the track that there are grind rails and floating rings. They are meant to take advantage of those skills. As for power, unfortunately, due to how complicated strength is, we are unable to incorporate the power class into the boards. So there will be no power shortcuts within the course. Also, could you imagine how messy it would be if we allow people to knock everything out of the way?"

The racers looked at each other, wondering if allowing such acts would be practical given that the shortcut has to be blocked off before anyone could complete a lap.

"Also," Mr. Mobius added, "after Rainbow's board exploded due to an undetected explosive device, we added extra security measures to detect tampering of any kind. We also made the boards a bit more durable, so at last they won't break if you slam into a wall."

With that finished, the event is ready to move on. Cadence grabs on to her microphone to announce to everyone, giving them what they need to know about this event. "Anyway, this event will be a relay race," she announced. "Each team will receive a tube colored like their school color." As she talked, a green tube is given to Knuckles, a blue tube is given to Applejack, a purple tube was given to Sunny, and a red tube was given to Storm. "You goal is to race around the track as quickly as possible and, when you reach the end of a lap, you must transfer the tube into your teammate before they cross the line. The order will go as follows. Normal, Flight, and Speed. And here are the students that will be representing each class."

The screen pops open to a list of competitors who will represent each class. One by one, each name pops up.

Sonic saw his name under the speed class. He was not surprised to see himself under this category, given how he himself was a runner. "As expected," he said.

"No surprises here," Knuckles said as he saw his name pop up under the normal category. He knew that this would happen, given how the organizers were not able to incorporate this skill into the events.

Twilight waited for her name to pop up. As anticipated, it did. She is placed under the flight category, much to the shock of her. "Wait, I'm flight?" she asks. "But...why? Why couldn't I be-"

Lightning elbows her teammate, silencing her. "Quit your babbling," she told Twilight right in the face. "We have something important to focus on."

* * *

The race course is triangular in shape, resembling a right triangle when viewed from above. There is a sharp turn at the north end of the course, a gradual turn at the southeast, and a right-angle turn at the south. Only right turns are seen being used in the course.

Visible from the first straightaway, train lines can be seen coming out of the station building. When approaching the station building from the south, these train lines are visible as well.

"The race to prove which team is the best begins now," Cadence announces as the four principals watch from the top floor of the station.

The four racers hop aboard their board, getting ready to start.

"Good luck, Knuckles," Sonic wished, tapping Knuckles on the shoulder.

"Anytime," Knuckles replies.

"Have fun, Applejack," Rainbow told her friend.

"Don't worry," Applejack assures. "I'll try hard to win this for ya."

Wave, meanwhile, looks at Sunny to mock her riding skills. "You'd think you'll win with a board like that?" she said.

Sunny leered at Wave while Storm chuckles behind her. "Hey!" she yells. "Stop teasing!"

"Get ready to start!" Cadence commanded. The clamps then release the boards, allowing then accelerate as the racers approach the start line. A timer shows up in the monitor above the start line. "Five!" she shouts along with the spectators. "Four! Three! Two! One!" The racers then kicked their back leg out, boosting them into high speeds as they zip past the start line. Unfortunately, Sunny boosted too early and collided with the electric barrier.

Lightning hit herself in the head as Sunny made an embarrassing mistake. "Oh come on!" she groans. "She did this again?"

* * *

The racers landed at the park below, which looks like a basketball court. Some racers go at the bottom which others ride along the roof.

Knuckles rides along Applejack as they stroll across the courts. "Ahh, this brings back so many memories," Applejack signs as she enjoys the breeze going past her.

"Have to say," Knuckles commented, looking around. "This feels a bit familiar, don't you think?"

The racers reunite at the end of the courts, where a sharp turn and a grind rail awaits them. Behind the racers, a turbulence forms in their wake.

Storm takes in the speed as he rides the air. "You know what?" he says. "I feel like I'm in my natural territory. We should try this more of-"

"Coming though!" Sunny yelled as she zipped past the racers.

The other racers were surprised by Sunny making a comeback. "Huh?" Applejack says. "How did she manage to get ahead of us?"

Knuckles pointed towards Sunny. "After her!" he ordered. And he boosted off after Sunny, leaving the others in his wake. Storm and Applejack then boosted their boards, speeding through the course at high speeds.

One of the major changes made to air board events is the addition of a monitor tracking down the position of everyone racing. The tubes are really trackers used track the positions of the racers, with their color corresponding to the color of the tube. Blinking dots are visible as they move across the course.

"The Normal Group has just reached the large open area," Cadence announces.

The racers exit the tunnel as they enter a large open area filled with grass patches, paths, and benches. Addition spectators are seen near the area, waiting the racers as they zip through the course.

Knuckles hears a warning sound and looks down. He notices that he is running out of fuel. "Oh! Air is running low," he observes. Then he looks around the area. "How do I..."

He spotted a few quarter-pipes on the side of the field. Seeing as how performing tricks refills the tank, Knuckles makes a beeline for the ramp and tricks off of it. He makes a solid landing which refills his air tank up to two-thirds.

"Knuckles made a smart choice is going for the quarter-pipe," Cadence announces. Then she takes a look at the racers. They are approaching the sharp right angle turn. "And it looks like the Normal Group is approaching the final turn! Flight Group, get into your positions!"

While most of the Flight Group gets into their positions just fine, Miles is having a bit of trouble getting out of the reserved seating because of Scootaloo, who has managed to sneak her way out of the spectator's sear and into the seats reserved for the racers.

"Would you mind if you just let go of me and get back into the viewing area?" Miles asks.

Sonic and Rainbow looked at these two young friends of them. They can't decide what to do. Rainbow is thinking about moving Scootaloo away form Miles, but considering how happy Scootaloo is right now, she can't push herself to do it. So she decides to do nothing. Sonic, meanwhile, is getting mixed signals.

"I so wanted you to win this," Scootaloo said as she continues to squeeze Miles. "Even if it's at the expense of Rainbow's school."

"Thanks," Miles said, appreciating the cheering, "but I'm pretty sure that I can do this without motivation." He lifts Scootaloo's arms off of him and grabs his board as he ran towards his transition lane.

Scootaloo, Sonic, and Rianbow all waved at Miles. "Okay Miles," Scootaloo said. "Good luck!"

Applejack approaches the final ramp and gets ready to jump. Unfortunately, she didn't jump in time and fell to the lower level. "Ah shoot," she grumbled as she saw Knuckles fly over her. "Should've jumped." She then takes a pole and rides it towards the station platform.

Knuckles landed and races into the interior of the station in first place, much to the excitement of the spectators. "Here he comes!" Sonic yells. "Miles! Get ready to run!"

Knuckles slowed down and gets off his board. Then he takes the baton off of his waist and hands it to the running Miles. Miles got just within reach of the baton, so he grabs it, jumps on his board, and races off.

"Team Emerald has successfully transferred their baton," Cadence announces. Then she witnessed Applejack successfully transferring the baton over to Thunder. "And so does Team Canterlot."

Sunny approaches the lap line with Storm trailing just behind her. Then she gets off of her board and attempts to hand the baton over to Twilight. Issue is, Twilight is running a bit faster than Sunny.

"Hey! Twilight!" Sunny yells, waving the baton. "Slow down! You're about to hit the-"

Twilight hits the electric barrier and gets stunned.

"Aww..." the spectators groaned.

Wave passes by them, with her school's baton in hand. Frustrated, Sunny decided to toss the baton over to Twilight. "Here," she said. "Have this."

The baton bounces over Twilight's head. Twilight grabs the baton and jumps on her board, racing off into the ramp.

Twilight is observed to be far behind the rest of the racers, mostly due to that mistake she made during the transition of the baton.

"Team Crystal is far behind the rest of the racers," Cadence announces. "Can she catch up?" She then noticed that the racers are approaching a flight shortcut. "And our Flight Group is about to encounter the flight shortcut in the next turn."

Miles leads the group into a ramp that lifts up, pointing towards the chain of floating rings.

"Here it comes!" Miles yelled. "Get ready to fly!"

Miles leads two other racers to the flight rings, sending them into the air as they pass through the rings. This action fills up their air tanks. The exception is Twilight, who doesn't feel confident enough to try it out and so passes the opportunity despite having the means to do it. The racers then land in front of Twilight, boosting ahead at the first opportunity.

Twilight's refusal to do something that will help out her team has gained angry groans from the Crystal Academy students.

"Second one is just up ahead on the quarter-pipes," Cadence said.

Miles turned to the chain of rings just above the quarter-pipe ramp. "Right there?" he asks. "Well, here goes nothing!" He then turns to go after the rings. The other racers don't seem to care and continued to boost ahead.

Due to a lack of air gained from performing tricks and using shortcuts, Twilight constantly is running low on air. She falls behind the rest of the racers. Her only hope of catching up is to rely on the turbulence left behind by her speeding rivals.

"Team Emerald is gaining the lead," Cadence announces as the green dot approaches the final turn. "Will the others catch up?"

"Get into positions!" Sonic orders as the last group of racers rush to their lanes. "They're about to come!"

As Lightning waited, she turned to Rainbow. "So, Rainbow," she began. "Have you changed your mind? Do you like me now?"

The only response she got is a growl from Rainbow.

Shortly before the final stretch, the spectators catch Twilight pulling out her scanner in the middle of the race. Much to the frustration of the Crystal Academy students.

"Uhh, what is Twilight doing?" Sunny asks. Then she beings to shout. "Hey Twilight! Put that away now! You're going to have a lot of explaining to do after this event ends."

Twilight did not respond, as she is currently fay away. Her distraction caused her to crash into the wall which guided racers into the final stretch.

Cinch adjusts her glasses as she witnessed Twilight making a stupid mistake. "I'm so disapppointed that my best student would be more interested in her studies than the competition," she notes. "What a shame."

Angry looks fired from the nearby principals of her rival schools.

Miles hopped off the pole that took him to this level. Shortly after, Thunder landed and boosted forward into the interior of the station building.

"Here he comes!" Sonic announces.

Sonic ran forward with his arm extended behind him. Miles takes the baton and passes it to Sonic. "Go for it, Sonic!" Miles said.

"Alright!" Sonic replied as he hopped on his board and speeded off into the ramp.

Thunder approaches the running Rainbow and passes the baton to her. "You can do this, Rainbow!"

"No problem!" Rainbow replies as she rides her board into the course ahead.

Wave passes the baton onto Jet. "Win for us, Jet," she said.

"I'll try," Jet replies. Then he hopes aboard his board and races off after his rivals.

Twilight hopped off her board a few seconds after Jet left. She tries to hand the baton onto Lightning, but she tripped and fell on her face. She stopped just behind Lightning, who looks down on her. "Grr..." Lightning growled in frustration. "I'll just take this from you instead." Lightning crouches down and snatches the baton off of Twilight's hands. Before she left, Lighting took the time to slap Twilight's face with the baton.

The purple dot is seen very far behind the rest of the racers, making through the first jump while the others are approaching the first turn.

"Team Crystal is very far behind," Cadence points out. "Can they catch up before their rivals can make it to the finish line? Will they recover?"

Sonic and Rainbow hopped off the rails they were grinding on and approaches the second major ramp. As they approached, they turn towards each other.

"Let's show off our tricks!" Sonic suggested.

"I've been waiting a long time for this," Rainbow replies.

The two then charged up their jump as they approached the ramp. Then they leap off the ramp, going high into the air. Sonic front flips in the air, going so far as to plant one of his hands on his board while the rest of his body goes up. Meanwhile, Rainbow rolls herself and her board in the vertical plane perpendicular to her vector of travel. At one point, she stops to get off the board, only holding onto it with one hand. The two then hopped back on their boards as they approached the ground, landing bottom side down.

The crowd goes wild as they witnessed an amazing trick. "What a trick combination!" Cadence announces as Sonic and Rainbow performed their trick. "And they make a perfect landing to take advantage of the gained air."

Jet comes around, approaching the ramp. Seeing what Sonic and Rainbow did, he leaps off the ramp, performing a few tricks in the air. Unforunatly, he did not check how high he currently is, as he landed on the ground before he could orient himself correctly.

"Aww," Cadence groans, "he failed to land correctly."

Lightning, looking to impress her classmates, performs a series of complicated tricks in the air. Her arrogance eventually caught up with her, as she lands on her face before she could orient herself properly. "This could cost her the race!" Cadence announces.

Sunny got frustrated over her teammate's competence. "Lightning! What are you doing?" she yells.

"Trying to replicate their rivals, of course," Wave answers from nearby. "Couldn't you see that?"

Twilight gets a bit distracted as she stares into the members of Team Emerald and Team Canterlot, as well as some of the spectators. "Hold on," she said. "I'm detecting some signals. I wonder-"

Sunny hears this and turns towards Twilight. "Quit your analyzing machine!" she insisted as she slaps the FR scanner out of Twilight's hands. The scanner drops down straight into the floor, breaking upon impact. The crowd gasp as soon as they hear the sound of a machine being broken.

Twilight looked at the mess that was once her FR scanner, gasping and covering her mouth. "What did you do?" she asks.

"Oops," Sunny said. "Didn't mean to do that. I was trying to make a point, four-eyes."

Twilight was intimidated by that insult again. Her anger is boiling inside of her. Before she could release it, red aura came from her body and gets vacuumed into her amulet.

"Hey!" they hear a young boy yell out. They turn, and out from the participator's seats is Miles. He pushes his way out to confront Sunny. "What do you think you're doing? Disrespecting her intelligence? Ha! Say something like that to my face and you'll regret it."

Twilight was shocked to see that someone from an opposing school came in to stand up for her. She was surprised to hear that Miles has seen the same things as her. "What?" Twilight gasps. "You've gone through the same thing?"

Miles opened his mouth to speak. "I-" he began, but his mouth his clamped shut by Sunny.

"Ignore him, Twilight," Sunny told her. "He's our rival, and rivals do not act kindly to each other like that."

Twilight tried to speak up. "I-I was just-" she tried to say before being interrupted.

"The racers are reaching the final stretch," Cadence announces. "Who would win this race?"

Sonic and Rainbow are still neck and neck as they approach the final turn. Meanwhile, Jet is left behind with no hopes of catching up.

"Well, better luck next time," Jet tells himself.

Suddenly, from behind him, Lightning came along and shoved Jet aside as she passes by. "Out of my way, bird face," Lightning yells as she passes by Jet.

Lightning is set to take third place, maybe second if she's lucky. She is determined to catch up with Sonic and Rainbow, when suddenly, Jet passes by, holding a green fan made of green bird feathers and leaves. "Are you shocked to see me again?" Jet asks before smacking Lightning with his fans, spinning her out and leaving her to eat Jet's turbulence.

Although taking different paths by jumping on the ramp, Sonic and Rainbow are still neck and neck. They realized that one of them must go ahead to prevent a tie like last time.

"Oh shoot-" Sonic realizes as he approaches the finish line.

Rainbow notices the same thing. "Uhh...oh dear..." she mutters. She must make a choice. "Uhh...you go on ahead!" Rainbow declared as she shoved Sonic forward a bit.

Sonic grew mad at Rainbow for doing this to herself. So he returns the favor. "No, you go on ahead!" Sonic insisted as he shoves Rainbow forward.

Sonic and Rainbow have now found themselves in a heated argument. They can't decide who should claim victory.

"No, you."

"No, you!"

Applejack, noticing that the race is finished, shouts out to the two of them. "Rainbow! Sonic!" she shouted. "Watch out!"

"Huh?" Sonic said as he and Rainbow turned ahead. Then they realized that they're about to go off the ramp and slammed on the breaks.

The two got off their boards after a sudden stop. "What happened?" Rainbow asks.

Their friends ran up to them. "You two finished the race," Thunder explains. "However, it was too close to call. We might need to take a look at the finish line camera to check."

Behind them, Jet and Team Diamond has beaten Lightning and Team Crystal in a game of board facing. Jet stops and turns around as Lightning suddenly gained altitude and started to fall off her board.

"How's this for a shocking treat?" Jet asks. "My school has beaten your school for the first time in years!"

Lightning landed on the floor and pounded on it in frustration. Lifting herself up, she points to someone to blame. So she turns to Twilight, as she appears to be her old option. "Twilight! How could you do this to our team?" she yells. "Thanks to you, we lost!"

Twilight stuttered as she tries to defend herself. "But it's not-" she opened her mouth.

"Of course it's your fault," Sunny blames as well. "You're the one who keeps on losing the events for us, thus allowing our rivals to take the victory."

"But-" Twilight opened her mouth.

"No buts!" Sunny yelled back, silencing.

Team Crystal then left the station building in a grumbling, frustrated mess. They left behind Twilight, who is starting to sob.

Rainbow frowns as she saw Twilight leave. "Poor Twilight," she observes. "She looks like she's about to cry."

Miles walks up to Twilight to comfort her. "Calm down, Twilight," he says. "I'm just here to tell you something."

Twilight turns and tries to open her mouth, but Abacus Cinch came in and took her away before she could speak.

"Don't even try to talk to our rivals," Principal Cinch insisted. "We're competing against them, remember?"

Team Emerald and Team Canterlot, as well as the rest of Team Sonic and The Rainbooms, watched Twilight as she was getting dragged out.

* * *

What are the results of the athletic day? The four principals gather around that evening to talk about today.

"A tie?" Abacus gasped as she reads the results paper. She puts it down on the table, revealing the scores. "Emerald High and Canterlot High has tied for first place? And not only that, but Crystal Academy has gotten last, just behind Diamond Secondary who keeps on losing every year."

Curtis grinned at Abacus. "Well, it's good to see that their persistence has paid off," he said.

This doesn't help Abacus at all. She continues to look frustrated. "I swear!" she shouted, slamming her hands down on the conference table. "Something suspicious is going on with the students that you chose to represent your school!" She then points to everyone in the room. "And that goes for all of you."

"Listen, Abacus," Celestia told her. "It's been that way since the very first year. We had to pick the ones who are both athletically and academically intelligent. If we want to win at both days, we'll have to do just that."

Abacus continues to get frustrated. "That's not the point," she roars. "Point is, some of the students have professional level skill in the various sports they're competing in. You used something to enhance those skills, don't you, Aleena?" She then turns towards Aleena.

Aleena shook her head in disagreement. "Nope!" she replies, standing up while slamming her hand on the table. "No way! Chuck and I trained Sonic in every sport possible up to the professional rankings. You can't possibly say that I used some sort of enhancer to boost his abilities, let alone the other two students that I chose."

Celestia also stood up. "Same with Rainbow," she added. "I heard from her parents that her skill in sports is the result of years of training. Just like most professional athletes."

Abacus grew suspicious at the two ladies who are friends with Sonic and Rainbow. "I don't believe you," she replies. "There is no way that two teenagers are able to have professional level skills. Those are reserved for adults."

Curtis pondered for a moment. "Well, have you ever heard about teenagers who can-" he said.

Before Curtis could finish, Abacus had enough and jumped out of her seat.

"Listen up, Celestia, Aleena, and Curtis," she announced. "When we move on to the final round, I promise. My school will crush you!" She pumped her fist hard to push her point further.

The three principals facing Cinch then looked at each other. They start to worry about Principal Cinch and Crystal Academy. In all those years of losses, this is the first time in years where Crystal Academy is getting more competitive. And judging by what happened in the last two days, they're not going to take this lightly.

* * *

In Twilight's house, in her room, Twilight is sobbing at her neat as night falls. The excessive trauma she's revived from her classmates and principal has begun to have a serious effect on her.

Next to her is her amulet, which is shaking rather subtlety on the table. A faint red light is coming out of the seam, signaling that it is reaching the breaking point.

The emotional damage she's received from the Columbia Games is more than the rest of the year combined. No wonder she feels so sad right now. Her heart is crushed, and it is lusting for revenge at the same time.

Tomorrow is the final event of the Columbia Games Junior League, and she is expected to be there.

 **To be Concluded...**

* * *

 **From the Author:**

Oh boy. We're getting ready for the final countdown.

Feels a lot more involved than a tri-cross relay. Now this is looking like some sort of Olympic style event, expect without several events. And guess what? It ended with a air board race between the four schools. A relay race. Perfect to end of the day.

Twilight's amulet is getting a bit suspicious. I suspect that midnight will be creeping up on us all of a sudden...

Edit from 7/27/2018: Added a missing quotation mark and added in a few things to flesh out the details.

* * *

Written by TheAPPstore

Sonic the Hedgehog characters property of Sega

My Little Pony characters property of Hasbro


	12. The Columbia Games: Part 4

**Episode 12**

 **"The Columbia Games, Part 4"**

* * *

The third and final day of the Columbia Games Junior League commences and it looks like Crystal Academy is starting to lose. With the seemingly sudden jump in performance of the other three schools, Principal Abacus Cinch becomes worried about the future of her school's reputation. Meanwhile, one particular student continues to be bullied.

Things took a turn for the worst when said student unleashes her anger onto the world, transforming the Columbia Games into a battlefield. With things suddenly shifting from a regular competition to something akin to a ranger incident, the thirteen friends must work together and fight without their ranger powers.

* * *

 **[Beginning of Episode]**

It is time.

Time for the final day of the Columbia Games Junior League.

Time for the showdown.

The participators of the Columbia Games Junior League gathered up at Diamond Battle Park, where it has been decided would be the site of the final day of the Columbia Games Junior League. Like in the previous days, there are four circles representing each of the participating schools. Additional seats are provided for the spectators, both from each of the participating schools and out.

The twelve students step into the circles in a dark and stormy day. The sky is overcast, and the day is looking darker than usual. The prinipals gathered in a box looking over the events going on down below.

Cadence stepped onto the podium to give a speech to everyone. "Welcome one and all to the final day of the Columbia Games Junior League," she said, silencing everyone as they quiet to listen to what she has to say. "Looks kind of professional looking, doesn't it? That's thanks to the immensely increased funding we received form advertisements. Yesterday's events have caught the attention of twelve million watchers. Many more people are remembering that this event exists. Thanks to regaining interested, we might not have to cancel this huge event even if Crystal Academy won again. That's right! We'll be continuing this games for more years to come. Thanks you, everyone, and thanks to the ones who inspired everyone to watch the events."

The crowd cheers as it has been announced that the Junior League won't be going anywhere anytime soon. They are now looking forward to the next games. Except for Crystal Academy, where most of the spectating students have a nap before the speech even begins.

"Before we begin, let's take a look at the scoreboard, just to remind you which school is winning this year," Cadence says. "We have hosted twenty-eight events in the academic and athletic categories, fourteen of each. And the results are as follows."

A monitor gets rolled up behind her. It turns on as soon as it reaches its intended position. It is showing the current scores that each of the schools gained over the course of the two days.

"Team Emerald and Team Canterlot has currently tied for first place," Cadence reads, "with each having eight wins in the events. Somehow, they tied with each other twice throughout the games. Meanwhile, Team Diamond and Team Crystal, funnily enough, are tied at having six wins each. Guys, do the math. We should have a total of twenty eight points."

For each victory in an event, the corresponding school that the player plays for gains a point. For every tie, the single point gets split up among those who have tied for first place. With Emerald High and Canterlot High having tied twice, they each gain half a point for each tie. This adds up to one full point.

"However," Cadence would like to remind everyone, "since we have two ties going on, we're going to have to this event twice. Once between Team Emerald and Team Canterlot, and one more between Team Diamond and Team Crystal."

The monitor behind her switches to an explanation of the event. The final event of the games will be Flag Capture. An image of a birds eye view of the park is shown, with several example flags being pointed to various places.

"Somewhere around this field, there's a flag of a rival school just waiting to be grabbed," Cadence explained. "There are several of these scattered around the field. The first team to snag all of their rivals' flags and bring them back here wins. Now, why are we doing this twice, you guys may ask. Well, unless its unavoidable, ties are not allowed to happen at all during the events."

The monitor switches into two brackets. One at the top, the other is at the bottom of the screen. Each bracket displays the current positions of each of the schools. As expected, Team Emerald and Team Canterlot is at the top bracket, while Team Crystal and Team Diamond is at the bottom bracket.

Cadence goes on to explain this choice. "Should a tie happen, an extra round will be played to determine the winner," she said. "In this case. Team Emerald and Team Canterlot will be competing to claim first place. Team Crystal and Team Diamond will compete to claim third place. Got that? Cool. Let's set this thing up. Get excited, everyone!"

The crowd then cheers on as the event gets ready to start.

* * *

While the flags are being set up, Team Emerald and Team Canterlot went up to each other to have their final words before the event begins.

Sonic shook his head towards Rainbow. "I can't believe this is happening," he said. "Us, fighting each other once again."

Rainbow nodded, agreeing with Sonic. "This time, we're doing it on our own," she said. "No rival schools are going to intercept us."

"Let's hope we don't tie again," Sonic said. "Last time we competed, we tied. During a race."

Rainbow pondered about the chances of this happening. "Not sure how that's possible," she concluded, "but hey, Someone's going to get lucky."

Sonic and Rainbow then chuckled for a while.

Meanwhile, Knuckles and Applejack are face to face with each other. They stared into their faces as they talked.

"Well, we might be friends," Applejack commented, "but that doesn't stop us from being competitive. Don't expect an easy match on your side, Team Emerald."

Knuckles smiled, then decided to tell Applejack back. "Don't expect an easy match on your side as well, Team Canterlot," he said. "But no matter the outcome, one thing will be clear. We've fought well."

Applejack nodded in agreement.

While Thunder and Miles are facing each other, they're not looking at each other. Thunder notices that Miles is not looking at him and looks off into the direction that Miles is facing. There, between the bleachers reserved for Canterlot High and Crystal Academy students, is Twilight, along with her other two teammates.

"Still looking at Twilight, huh?" Thunder spoke. "She looks a little suspicious, don't you think?"

Miles pondered as he continue to linger is gaze at Twilight. "I'm starting to think that she's my counterpart," he theorized. "Being smart, but not getting the respect that she deserves. I wonder if her brother is here to protect her?"

Thunder continued to make observations about Twilight. Unlike Miles, who is quite confident, Twilight seems nervous. And despite being older, she doesn't look like she has as much experience with her brother than Miles. And Miles is not even related to Sonic. If the brother of Twilight is biological, it'll be a horrible miracle to have a close family member completely ignoring the problems of their younger sibling. That is unless her brother is not available...

"Based on my observations," Thunder concluded, "she looks like she's doesn't get the same treatment as you."

Miles nodded in agreement. "Yeah, you're-" he began to say, before spotting something moving on Twilight's chest. "Wait, what is that thing shaking on her chest?" He points to Twilight.

The others turned towards Twilight, wondering what Miles is even pointing at.

"Uh, best if we do not get distracted," Sonic suggested to everyone, including his rivals. "We have a final match to focus on. Should it be a issue, we'll deal with it. But otherwise, ignore it."

Rainbow lingered her gaze a little bit longer than the others. A thought went through her head as she stares at Twilight. "Something tells me that her heart is pounding even harder than me," she mutters. "Wonder why..."

Rainbow's thought process in interrupted when an announcement came in.

"The flags has been set," Cadence says. "Competitors, please get into position."

All six participating students in the event scurried to the closed gates.

"The final event of the Columbia Games Junior League," Cadence beings to conclude her speech. "Flag Capture. Team Emerald vs Team Canterlot. Both are tied for first place, but who is fit enough to claim the throne? Will it be Sonic and his pals? Or will the victory go to Rainbow and her friends? This match will decide. So, everyone. If you guys are ready..."

Cadence pulls out an airhorn and blows out a loud sound. The gates open and everyone is off.

* * *

While Team Emerald and Team Canterlot ran around the field looking for some flags, Jet and his team are making a plan to overthrow Crystal Academy from their throne. They have a chat right in front of their school's bleachers.

"We're going to beat Crystal Academy this time!" Jet shouted. "Put them into our shoes! Let them see what its like to be at the bottom!"

"Yeah!" Storm agrees. "Our school has a score to settle with that school. They've been crushing us for fifteen years straight, and it's finally time to dethrone them from their place at the top."

Wave then stepped in. "Come on, guys," she said casually. "You know that we're going to win this. If the team;s third member can't keep up, then the victory will go to us. I guarantee."

Curtis decided to take a break from the principal's box and decided to go outside and have a chat with his chosen students. He approaches Jet and his friends as they talk about beating Crystal Academy.

"Guys, don't be so talkative," Principal Curtis tells them. "I know you want to win, but it's not your turn yet. Wait until the others finish. Then, you can deliver your final words before the deciding match beings. Right?"

The people from Diamond Secondary continued to have a chat with each other. Eavesdropping on them. however, is Lightning, who hears their plan to defeat Crystal Academy.

"They're plotting against us," Lightning told her allies.

Abacus Cinch walks up to her daughter as hears the news. The people from Crystal Academy are hiding right behind the bleachers reserved for Diamond Secondary spectators. "Ahh, Diamond Secondary School," she says, placing her hand on Sunny's shoulder. "When will you give up? You've committed yourself into being crushed by the others for years. And you still think that you have the spirit to stand a chance against us? Pathetic."

Sunny looks up to her mother. "What should we do mother?" she asks.

"I say we create a counter-plot against them," Cinch suggested.

Lightning gets excited about this. "Yeah! That's perfect!" she says. "Counter a plot against us with a plot against them. This is so brilliant!" She jumps for joy behind the bleachers. Then she turns towards Twilight, who is leaning on the bleacher wall. "What do you say, Twilight? Are you in?"

Twilight looks at Lightning, who is uncomfortably close to her face. "Um..." she mouths out.

Lightning doesn't get Twilight's response. "Come on, Twilight," she responds. "Let me ask again. Are. You. In?"

Twilight gets nervous as Lightning went extremely close to her. She shook her head. "No," she says under her anxiety.

This causes Lightning to get off of Twilight in reaction to this answer. "What?" she gasps.

Cinch walks up to Lightning. "I fully expect this response to come from her," she says.

Lightning turns towards Principal Cinch.

Sunny was confused. "What? But why mother?" she asks.

Cinch adjusts her glasses as she explains to her chosen students. "I've been analyzing her performance over the past two days," she said, "and I've noticed something." She walks around the back lot as she reveals what's going on inside Twilight's head. "While her academic performance is quite high, her athletic performance is...poor. She's been struggling with the sports events and has such her performance is hindering ours."

"What does that mean?" Lightning asks, wanting answers now.

"It means that Twilight will serve as a weight that will only drag us down," Cinch concluded. "Considering that this event involves a lot of running, a lot of endurance is required to complete the task. We might lose because of her, and that makes me worried." Cinch looks away, feeling concerned about the future of her school's reputation.

Sunny turned to Cinch. "So, what can we do now, mother?" she asks.

"Well, all we have to do is to pressure her to do our bidding," Cinch answers.

Twilight reels back in shock. "What?" she gasps.

Cinch moves up to Twilight, looking like she's about to go insane. "Yes. yes! Twilight," she says, putting pressure on Twilight. "You must improve on your performance in athletics. Do this for Crystal Academy. For me, for your students! For my reputation!

Twilight was intimidated to much that an influx of red aura flowed out of her body and into her shaking amulet. It was the last straw. When the amulet finished absorbing the red aura, the shakes violently and opens up. An explosion goes off behind the bleachers, startling everyone.

Everyone went into a panic once the explosion goes off behind the bleachers. The Diamond Secondary bleachers have collapsed from the damage, injuring several. Many more jumped from their seats and ran around in circles, panicking as they ran.

Meanwhile, a red and purple ball of light beings to absorb Twilight from the legs up.

"Urg!" Twilight grunted as she tries to control the influx of energy. "Gah! Hrrgg!"

Twilight screamed as her body becomes enveloped by the ball. Shocked by this, Principal Cinch grabs Lightning and Sunny and evaluates the area immediately.

* * *

Rainbow was busy trying to find a Emerald High flag, when suddenly a loud boom ripples through the field.

"What was that noise?" she asks.

Nearby Sonic hops down from the trees after hearing the noise. He looks towards the center of the field and spotted a pillar of light. "What now?" he asks. "I thought that this was supposed to be a competition. Not some ranger event."

Rainbow saw the pillar and knew that something is wrong. "Forget the flags," she declared. "I'm heading right over there!" She then sprints off towards the pillar of light, ready to investigate it.

"Right behind you!" Sonic said, abandoning the event in favor of investigating what's going on.

The explosion is heard throughout the field, interrupting the event. Everyone looks towards the resulting pillar and gained suspicion about what's going on. They then abandon the event, running towards the pillar to check what's going on.

The field is nearly empty, aside from a few stragglers who stayed to watch what was going on. The friend of Sonic and Rainbow also remained in the bleachers, whatching as Twilight gets absorbed into the ball. The ball has engulfed her up to her neck. Her arms poked out as the tries to escape.

The six teens arrive, and as soon as they do so, Applejack had her mouth wide open in shock of what she is seeing. "What in tarnation is that?" she gasps.

Knuckles took a look at the top of the sphere. "Is that...Twilight?" he asks.

"No..." Miles muttered. "It can't be!"

Twilight struggled to free herself from the ball of light. She saw several people down below and tries to reach out to them. "Help...me!" Twilight begged. But it was too late. At this point, she is too high for any of them to reach her. Twilight screams as the last of her body gets absorbed into the ball.

The ball floats up, becoming louder and louder as it ascends, and then it exploded in a bright light, forcing whoever is left behind to shield their eyes. When the light died down, the people looked at where Twilight is and is up for a surprise.

Twilight has changed. A lot. Her skin is darker, dark purple leggings replaced her shoes, gloves in a similar style to her leggings also appeared, two dark wings sprouts, and a dress is various shades of dark purple forms around her. On her chest is her amulet, which is glowing.

Twilight is no longer herself. She has transformed into Midnight Sparkle.

"What is that form?" Thunder asks, partially shielding his eyes.

"What has she transformed into?" Sonic asks.

Rainbow took a step towards Twilight. "Twilight?" she asks.

Midnight spoke to the world in a trembling, deepened voice. She is huddled up in a fetal position. "This cursed world," she said, "always treating me like I'm their doormat. Those days are over now. Everyone..." She paused for a moment before springing out of her fetal position. "You must pay the ultimate price!"

Midnight then blasts beams out of her hands, forming pools of a gooey substance in the area that the beams go through. Out from the goop crawled out several humanoid monsters. A horde of them.

The remaining people then decided to run away now, except for the former rangers.

Rarity reels back in disgust. "Urg!" she screams. "What are those things?" She pointed to the humanoid things as they approached them.

The monsters then went on the bleachers and started to attack the former rangers. Manic punched one down the bleachers. "Ahh!" he screams. "They're foot soldiers! We're fighting against foot soldiers without our ranger powers!"

"How are we supposed to defeat them?" Amy asks.

"Doesn't matter," Sonic shouted from below as he knocks one foot soldier aside. "We'll just use our natural strength to defeat them. Come on, everyone!"

The remaining rangers then joined the fight, except for Fluttershy who is nervous about dealing with these foot soldiers. Espio notices this and rushed to her side, ready to knock out anyone who dares get close to the vulnerable girl.

The former rangers made quick work of the foot soldiers. Knuckles knocked several out by punching them in the chest. Applejack sweep kicked several foot soldiers, leaving them open to attacks by the other rangers. Rarity and Silver are struggling with the foot soldiers, due to a lack of fighting experience. Rarity grumbles about trying to find someone who can teach her how to fight as she wrestles with a foot soldier.

Espio went up to the foot soldiers that are approaching him and Fluttershy. He tosses them back onto the battlefield, allowing the others to attack that foot soldier once more. Meanwhile, Pinkie played mind games with the foot soldiers by appearing from odd places while Manic pinned down the feet of the foot soldiers so they could not move.

While the former rangers are busy dealing with her minions, Midnight searches the area looking for someone. "Urg!" she roars. "Where are those people that forced me into this? I have some unfinished business with them." After a bit of searching, she looks down below her. One of them ha caught her interest. The girl with the rainbow hair. She then grins. "They might not be around anymore, but these people who decided to stay...they'll make great cannon fodder for my grudge."

She then dives down towards the ones who are here fighting.

Rainbow was doing fine dealing with the foot soldiers. She knocked them out as they came to her. She is confident that she and her friends can deal with this. That is, until something crashed into her and dragged her out.

"Gah!" Rainbow yelped as she was hit.

Sonic turned towards Rainbow's direction. "Rainbow!" he yells. And then he gets jumped on by a nearby foot soldier he didn't deal with because he got distracted.

Rainbow got dragged out by Midnight into another open field. The two then had a wrestling match as they clamped their hands on each other.

"Twilight..." Rainbow grunted as she struggled to push back. "What are you doing?"

"Venting my wrath against you, that's all," Midnight responds. "You left me with no choice but to attack you."

"But why?" Rainbow asks. "What did I ever do to you?"

"Shut your mouth up!" Midnight insisted. "You know what you did, didn't you?"

Sonic looked at the direction where he saw Rainbow being dragged off to after throwing a foot soldier off him. "Rainbow's in trouble," he told everyone. "She clearly needs some help right now." He then turns to his friends. "Guys, you got me covered?"

Miles knocked out a foot soldier before turning to Sonic. "We're dealing with these foot soldiers just fine," he said. Then another sneaked up on him and he knocked that one away as well. "You may safely leave us."

Sonic smiled and nodded, knowing that his friends has got the horde under control. "Alright. Take care, everyone," he blessed. Then he ran off in the direction of Rainbow, leaving the rest of his friends to deal with the remaining foot soldiers.

Rainbow gets pushed to the ground by Midnight. She gets up as Midnight approaches her. "Why are you doing this?" she asks, the sound of pain going through her voice.

"Those people at Crystal Academy," Midnight began to answer, charging up a attack in her hands, "they called me a freak because I have no friends. They stomp on me and put be down because of how smart I am compared to them. They don't like to feel dumb. But how about you?" She then raised her hand, getting ready to attack Rainbow with a powerful attack when she's vulnerable.

"Twilight!" they heard Sonic shout out. They looked towards Sonic as Midnight froze her hand in the air. "Cut that out. You're hurting the wrong person."

Sonic steps up to Midnight as she looked at him.

Midnight lowered her hand, sneering at Sonic. "Why should I?" she asks. "She's the only target I have."

"I can tell that something terrible has happened to you that pushed you over the edge," Sonic told Midnight, reaching out to the Twilight who is trapped inside. "You appeared to have suddenly changed from meek and quiet to this...monstrous form."

"Oh yeah?" Midnight asks. "Well once you get a taste of what I can do, then you'll see how it feels when you put me down." She then floated up a few feet and began to charge up a powerful attack from above her head. "Fear my wrath!" she roars.

Wind blows away from Midnight as she charges up her ultimate attack. As she does, the amulet on her starts to glow.

This catches Rainbow's eye. "That amulet..." she muttered. "I think..." She pondered for a moment, wondering what's the deal with that amulet. Then it came to her. "That's it! Sonic! Toss me up there!"

Sonic looked at Rainbow, thinking that she's gone a little bit crazy. "Huh? But why?" he asks,

"I think I figured out what the source of her powers is," Rainbow shouted, with Midnight ignoring them. "That amulet she's wearing." She points skyward towards Midnight, moving Sonic's attention to it. "If we can get it off her, we might sever the connection."

"Sounds like a good plan to me," Sonic said. "Let's try it!"

Rainbow got up and ran towards Sonic as he crouches down with his hands creating a platform for her to stand on. Rainbow puts her foot on Sonic's hands, getting ready to spring up.

"Up you go!" Sonic says as he springs up, tossing Rainbow up into the air.

Rainbow spins and turns so that she is facing Midnight's leg. She opens her arms wide, getting ready to grab her leg.

Midnight payed attention to the ball she is creating, laughing manically. That is, until she felt something cling on to her leg. "Huh?" she said as she felt something on her leg. Then she looks down and notices that Rainbow is right there. Midnight snaps and beings to flail her legs. "Gah! Get off my leg, you fool!" she screams as she tries to kick Rainbow out of her grasp.

Rainbow climbed up Midnight's body and grabbed the amulet. Then she begins to yell at her. "Twilight! Get that amulet out of your neck!" she ordered. "It's too dangerous! Take it off now!"

Midnight is dragged down to the ground as she continued to push Rainbow away from her.

A strange voice then beings to echo in their heads. "Stop this right now, young one," the voice commanded. "The power that rests inside that device is too powerful for you to handle. You are not trained enough to handle such power. I demand you to take that off! You're threatening the whole planet because of your careless actions!"

Rainbow then pulls on the amulet, with Midnight pulling her body back to resist. It has turned into a tug-of-war.

Rainbow opened her eyes as she continued to pull back on the amulet. "Stop resisting!" she yells. "You're only making your problem worse because of it! This isn't a tug-of-war match! I demand you to stop!"

Midnight gets weaker as the amulet gets further from her. "Let...go...already," she said. "No! My power...it's draining..."

Sonic then joins in, helping Rainbow yank the amulet off of Twilight.

Rainbow then yells at Midnight for allowing such things to happen to her. "Twilight! Stop right now!" she shouted. "I see that you're all powerful, but you are a lonely person. Someone who is in desperate need of a friend. I may be great, but I still to friends to take care off. Genuine friends! Those 'friends' over there? They are not your genuine friends. Look at what they created out of you! Do you see the damage that you have caused? Do you realize the damage these jerks have been inflicting on you?" She glared at Midnight, asking her if she knows. "DO YOU?!"

A string then gets snapped from the stress its receiving.

"The connection is almost severed!" Sonic announces. "Keep it up!"

"Almost...there..." Rainbow says.

Midnight then collapses as the second string snaps. Sonic and Rainbow are knocked backwards as an explosion goes off, engulfing all of them.

Then, they blacked out.

* * *

Back at the battlefield, foot soldiers started to disappear one by one. They are no longer coming back, replacing the ones who have fallen.

Knuckles wiped the sweat off his head. "Phew!" he said. "Thank goodness that it's over."

Pinkie looked around, seeing that the foot soldiers were gone. "Hey! We won!" she started to cheer. "Yeeeaaaah!" She hopped around, cheering with excitement.

Miles wiped the dust off him. "That's not what I expected when coming into this event," he said.

"Who knew that even without our ranger powers, we still have our inner fighter inside of us," Thunder said.

Miles turned to Thunder and smiles, agreeing with him.

* * *

After pulling the amulet out of Twilight's grasp, Rainbow bkacked out due to the resulting explosion. Then she woke up, along with Sonic. The two got up and looked around. A circle of dead grass surrounded them.

Rainbow looked at the downed Twilight. She has transformed back into her normal form, but is clearly knocked out. Rainbow approched Twilight and as she cast her shadow on her, Twilight woke up. Twilight is still shivering from what happened.

Rainbow reached out to Twilight. "No need to be scared anymore, Twilight," she reassures. "You're safe now."

Twilight grabbed Rainbow's hand and she is lifted up to her feet.

Twilight felt dizzy as she stands up. She wobbles around on her legs, the world felt like it's tilting erratically. "...What happened?" she asks.

"I don't know the exact details," Sonic andwers. "All I remember was that pillar of light that showed up suddenly. And after that...you transformed." Sonic then pointed to Twilight.

Twilight was shocked to hear what happened to her. "I transformed?" she asks.

Rainbow nodded, brining sad news to Twilight. "Yeah," she answers. "And all of a sudden, you started to rampage. You summoned these weird monsters from the ground and they started to attack us. And then you acttacked me and well, you know the rest."

"Know the rest?" Twilight asks, bewildered with what she was hearing. Then she tries to remember, only to come up with nothing. 'But...my mind...it's blank."

Sonic was confused by what Twilight was saying. "Huh? You forgot that you did that?" he asks, wondering if Twilight still remembered.

"I'm sorry," Twilight apologizes. "I was just...blacked out or something. Oh. What am I going to say?"

While Sonic and Rainbow interrorgated Twilight about herself and Crystal Academy, Miles walked up behind them and noticed Twilight's amulet on the ground. He picks it up.

"Huh," Miles observes. "This looks like some sort of...power device that transforms the wearer. I wonder..." He presses the button near the hinge of hte amulet, opening it up, expecting something to happen. Nothing did, much to his disappointment. "Aww man! I was hoping that it would be a new ranger power." He then closes the amulet and inspects it. "It looks like this thing is broken," he observes, taking in several more angles. "What happened to it?"

* * *

"Due to a incident, we will be postponing the final event until later," Mr. Mobius announces to everyone watching. "Until further notice, we will not be updating you on the event."

The sky clears up to a partially cloudy sky.

Principal Abacus Cinch along with LIghtning and Sunny are waiting for the bus that will take them home, as rge final event has been canceled. While they're waiting for the bus, they're also waiting for someone to arrive.

"I still haven't seen Twilight," Cinch says, looking around. "She should be here by now, so what's taking so long?"

Sunny looks around for a moment. Then she turns towards the entrance and spotted four people: Sonic, Rainbow, and Principals Aleena and Celestia.

Sunny growled at Sonic as she saw him. "You," she said. And then she stomped up to Sonic, before being stopped by Cinch's arm.

"Not now, Sunny," Cinch insisted. "They look like they have something to say."

Sonic walked directly up to Cinch to say to her one thing. He takes a deep breath as he beings to say this.

"You're toxic," Sonic bluntly said.

Cinch was shocked by this, along with Lightning and Sunny. "What?" she gsps. "But, how did you know that we're toxic. We're not toxic, right?"

Celestia stepped up to Cinch. "Remember Twilight?" she asks. "The one who you are missing? Well, she's right here."

The four moved to show the nervous Twilight there at the entrance.

Cinch smiles as she sees her student to be fine. "Twilight," she said, walking up to her. "I've been looking for you since-"

"Don't get near her," Aleena ordered, blocking Abacus' path with her arm.

"Huh?" Cinch says in responce. "But why? She's my student."

"Oh, Abacus," Celestia said, shaking her head. "You should know that she told us her story, why she's feeling this way. And after hearing from her, this is our conclusion." Celestia prepares herself as she shocks Abacus Cinch.

"You blackmailed your best student into participation against her will," Celestia said, shocking Cinch.

"You treat her like dirt, even though she's the best that your school has to offer," Sonic added, shocking Cinch even further.

"The students didn't even congratulates her when she wins for you," Aleena added, adding more pain to Cinch.

"And whenever she loses, she gets berated," Rainobw ended off, silencing Cinch.

"You see what we mean?" Aleena asks. "All those actions...it pushed her over her limit. She cannot stand Crystal Academy anymore."

"And why is that?" Cinch asks.

"Why?" Rainbow questioned, wondering if Principal Cinch knows about this. "Why is that?! Well, I'm telling you why! You school is the most toxic educational institute I've ever seen!"

Rainbow's words shattered Cinch's confidence.

One more thing to add to Cinch's injuries. "Oh, and were you even here when the awards were being given," Celestia asks. "Because here are the results."

She pulls out a sheet of paper, with details on every event in the games.

"Fourth place, Crystal Academy," Celestia reads.

Cinh shakes her head in disbelief. "No..." she said.

"Third place, Diamond Secondary."

Lightning and Sunny were shocked to hear that they were beaten by a school who is deemed so incompetent that they always get last place. And, all that persistince paid off.

"Second place..." Celestia reads before looking at Cinch. "Well there isn't a second place because there is a first place tie. Taking first place are the schools Emerald High and Canterlot High!"

Cinch, Lightning, and Sunny were shocked to hear that a tie happened between two of their rival schools.

"What? You guys won?" Cinch gasps. "And you both tied? Urg! I can't believe that you won this year! I'm out of here!"

Cinch then stormed off away from the bus stop, along with both Lightning and Sunny. They're gone now.

Aleena lets out a calming breath of air as she is relieved to see Cinch gone. "Well, that's the end of it," she said. "The Columbia Games Junior League is now over."

Rainbow turns around towards Twilight and noicedd that she is not leaving with Cinch. She walks up to her, wondering what's gotten into her. "Twilight...why aren't you leaving?" she asks. "Why aren't you going back to Crystal Academy?"

Twilight looks away as she clings her arm tighter. "I just..." she began, afraid to answer. "I don't feel like going back there again, after what they did to me."

Rainbow was surprised to hear this. Then Celestia came along and conforted Twilight.

"You know," Celestia said, reassuring Twilight. "You can always transfer over to someplace else."

Twilight was confused in which direction she should take. "But which one?" she asks.

"Canterlot High School is nearby to your house," Celestia answers. "You may transfer there."

Twilight snifles up. "Really?"

Rainbow noddedm supporting the decision. "Yes," she answers. "We have a much better environment for smart people like you over there."

Twilight took off her glasses and wiped the tears. "That's pretty cool," she concluded. "I'll...be seeing you guys next year."

"Next year?" Celestia asks. "Alright then. Take care."

Aleena, Sonic, and Celestia all left the entrance. Except for Rainbow and Twilight. Rainbow walked up to Twilight tp ask her something.

"Twilight?" Rainbow asks.

Twilight looks at Rainbow's eyes. "Hmm?"

"Since you'll be coming into Canterlot High next year, why don't you join my team, The Rainbooms?" Rainbow suggested.

"Why?" Twilight wondered.

"Well, because it's expected that you'll be a member of at least once group over there," Rainbow answered. "Plus, you're lonely. You might need some friends who are willing to comfort you when you are down." Then she wraps her arm around Twilight. :And someday, you'll become a hero. So, are you willing to join?"

After thinking about it for a moment, she realizes that her chances of her getting into an independent study program has been ruined thanks to Cinch. She is sure that her former principal will warn the programs not to accapt her due to her incompetence. With her dreams crushed, her only option is to leave Crystal Academy behind and transfer into a new, safer school for her. And so, she agrees to not only transfer to nearby Canterlot High School, but also volentarly join Rainbow's team, The Rainbooms.

"Sure," Twilight answered, putting a smile on Rainbow's face.

 **[End of Episode]**

* * *

 **From the Author:**

Just like the Friendship Games, the Columboa Games ended with Twilight transfering into Canterlot HIgh School from Crystal Prep Academy. The difference here is that The Rainbooms have made an allience with a similar group, Team Sonic. With access to thirteen friends, Twilight will surely found a place in the group. The Rainbooms hve increased their numbers to seven, matching Team Sonic's member count.

Twilight will also get a chance to talk with Miles, as he has experinced the same thing when he was younger.

The end of year is approching for these former rangers. As the days counts down to their summer vacation, so do the next chapter of their lives as defenders of Columbia.

* * *

Written by TheAPPstore

Sonic the Hedgehog characters property of Sega

My Little Pony characters property of Hasbro


	13. Best Squadron

**Episode 13**

 **"Best Squadron"**

* * *

With the Columbia Games now over, it is time to celebrate the final days of the school year. Everyone is looking forward to the coming summer vacation months and are excited to see what the next year has for them.

As the celebration is occurring, the seventh and newest member of The Rainbooms have arrived, though changed from her last appearance.

The group has not been considered a club, more of a social circle. However, with the introduction of a category that awards the best circle of friends, a photo has to be taken of them. With a total of fourteen official member between the two teams, this will be a moment to remember.

* * *

 **[Beginning of Episode]**

It's been days since the Columbia Games Junior League has ended. The event ended a bit earlier than expected due to the incident pushing the ending back so far that it is unviable to continue. So the event has declared to be ended, with the final event being canceled. Instead of a final event deciding the winner, a new variable is added to calculate the final score: cooperation.

As a team event, teamwork is important for several events. Even though not all participating students are not together all the time, this factor still gets counted based on the excitement of others. This is a serious event and dedication and care is expected for the spectators. During team events and between events, the judges observe the behaviors of the students towards others of the same team. And the result? Crystal Academy students were found to be the least cooperative while the other schools nearly scored equally. In fact, the former rangers who participated in the events scored exactly the same due to how much the members cared for each other. For this reason, Emerald High School and Canterlot High School were declared the winners.

Victory appears to be the perfect mood for the students to take on, as the days count down towards the final day of school. June is about to arrive tomorrow and the effects of the Columbia Games have yet to wane.

The dawn of the final day of May has just arrived. The sun is rising, beaming its lights down on the city.

Sonic is resting from his evening jog yesterday, snoring away as the clock ticks down to his set alarm. Before it can go off, his bedroom door gets opened by Aleena. She peeks her head looking at her son.

"Oh Sonic!" she calls. "Wake up! I have news for you!"

"Huh?" Sonic said, snapping awake. he gets up from his bed and stretches. "What is it?" he asks as he smoothen out his hair.

Aleena points to the calendar hanging on the wall, towards the marked date. "Fifteen more school days remaining until the end of the school year!" she announces.

Sonic wipes his eyes clean. His vision looks a bit foggy this morning. He then looks at Aleena and the calendar. "Fifteen more days of school?" he asks, wondering if he heard that correctly.

"That's right," Aleena confirms. "We are nearing the beginning of our summer vacation. Not only that," she says as she points to another marked date just ahead of the last day of school, "but your birthday is coming up shortly after school has passed."

Sonic hopped off his bed. "So, another birthday party then, right?" he asks.

"You have a lot more friends than last year," Aleena points out, "so expect a lot more guests at your birthday party!"

Sonic remembered about his team's alliance he made with Rainbow's team. "Oh yeah," he realizes. "We created an alliance with our friends over at Canterlot High School. I practically doubled the size of my social circle since Rainbow and I agreed to unify the two teams."

Sonic and Aleena walked out of Sonic's room. While Aleena walked down the stairs, Sonic called out to his brother. "Come on, Manic," he calls. "Let's get going and see what school is like in the final new days. I'm looking forward to the new adventures that I'll be having with the new friends over the summer. Or next year."

"The last days of the school year?" Manic asks. Then he burst out of his bedroom door, headed straight for the stairs. "Oh, I'm so excited for that day!" he shouted, running down the stairs.

Sonic could only watch as Manic rushed down the stairs with no regard of his looks.

The household then had a family breakfast together.

As she was eating, something then came to Aleena. She received news from the Emerald High School Yearbook Club yesterday, and she couldn't wait to tell Sonic about this. After all, this has something to do with him. So she calls for their attention.

"Oh, Sonic? Manic?" Aleena calls.

Sonic and Manic turn their attention to Aleena. "What is it mom?" Sonic asks.

Aleena puts her food down. "One more thing," she beings to explain. "The yearbook committee has introduced a new category in congratulatory pages. Best Squadron."

"Best Squadron?" Manic asks. "Wouldn't something like Best Group or team or whatever be more fitting?"

Aleena swallowed her breakfast. "Well, you guys are rangers," she answered. "Well, used to be, but you're still rangers at heart. Considering the origins of these powered up teams in multicolored suits, the committee has chosen this word to represent this category. Not only that, but thanks to your heroic deeds performed throughout the year, your team, Team Sonic, was chosen as the first squadron to make it to the hall of fame.

Sonic jumped from his stat when he got the news about his team. "We've got Best Squadron?" he gasped. "And it was...decided by the committee?"

Aleena nodded, confirming that Sonic's team has been chosen. Sonic then sat back down in his seat. "Well, I'm not surprised there, considering how little I've heard about the deeds of the other groups anywhere," he remarks. "Not even the school bulletin shows the students their deeds other than our own. I mean, whenever I go there to check on the news, I saw my team on the news after some event that involves monsters or whatever." Sonic then wondered what will happen now that this category has been introduced. "Well, I expect to see some stiff competition now that the category is up for grabs next year."

"Uh, bad news," Aleena told Sonic and Manic. "Yearbooks have been already printed, so this category will show up next year. However, I've also heard from Canterlot High that your allied team, The Rainbooms, were chosen as Best Squadron after that was introduced."

"What?" Sonic and Manic gasps.

Chuck took a sip of his drink. "Well, this is what you get if you have rangers roaming the hallways of a school," he remarks, chuckling a little. "Wonder why the other schools that have rangers walking among the students didn't include that category."

"Let me guess," Manic replies. "Either they're not known, or there's a lack of groups within the schools."

"The difference between you and those other heroic teenage rangers is that your actions are known," Aleena explains. "The others, not everyone knows that they are the same heroes that defended their home."

Sonic then wondered some more. "So, how are they going to work with the picture, if there is one?"

"You're going to have a picture with The Rainbooms this evening in front of Canterlot High School," Aleena answered, "along with their newest member. In fact, I think she's coming there this evening."

This made Sonic and Manic excited about seeing their allied team's newest member. "Really?" they both ask.

"Sure," Aleena nodded. Then she looks at the clock and sees that it is almost time to go. "Okay. Let's get moving."

Sonic and Manic packed up their stuff as Aleena gets ready to take them to school. Before Aleena could even touch the doorknob, the home phone goes off.

Chuck looks at the phone and sees the person who is calling. He turns to Aleena. "It's for you," he says.

Aleena walked up to the phone and answered it. "This is Aleena Rush speaking," she began. Then she hears a calming voice coming from the other side. "Oh? Principal Celestia? You're telling me-" Then she receives a reply. Aleena realizes that the plans have changed. "No. You want them here now?" A yes came from the other side, and Aleena understands the change in plans. "Okay, if you insist," she ends the call. Then she hung up the phone.

Sonic walks up to Aleena. "What is it mom?" he asks.

Aleena sighs as she tells her son about the new plan. "Change of plans," she answered. "You're heading off north to Canterlot High. You're not going to your school today."

"What?" Sonic gasps along with Manic who is standing behind him.

"Gather the rest of your team and then head out towards the train station," Aleena orders. "Your friends up north will be waiting."

* * *

Team Sonic boards the morning train destined for Canterlot City. They waited until they reached the appropriate stop.

While on the train, Amy feels a bit eager to smash Sonic in the head with her hammer. So she compulsively pulls it out, ready to strike. Espio, noting that Amy is about to get ready to hurt someone, jumps from his seat and grabs Amy's hammer. The two pulled, fighting for the hammer in the background.

Miles gets nervous about this sudden change of plans. He turns to Sonic, who is sitting right next to him. "Sonic?" he asks. "Are you sure that we're visiting Canterlot High to take a photo and meet The Rainbooms' newest member?"

Sonic patted Miles in the shoulder, comforting him as the train ride continues. "I heard it from my mother," he says, reassuring his longtime friend. "The picture for Best Squadron, the newest awards, will be taken at Canterlot High School. I expect our friends to be there, waiting for us to come here. Got that?"

Miles silently nodded in agreement and understanding what's going on.

Silver looks out, looking at the passing terrain. "Seeing each other just for a photo," he said. "And for a visit. What's not to love about having friends from distant, but reachable, places."

"It only takes an hour to get to get to there," Knuckles said, "if you count all the stops along the way."

The team lounged in the train for a little while.

Something came to Miles' mind that he just had to tell Sonic. He turns to look at him "Sonic?" he called.

Sonic turned to Miles. "Yes, Miles?" he replies.

"When we meet Twilight once again, should I talk to her about my story of being put down because I was so smart?" he wondered.

Sonic pondered for a moment, then tells Miles something. "Do as you please," he answers, looking away. "Tell her that she's not alone in this situation, just like me when I first met Rainbow. The only difference is that this is a problem that's buried in your past, not something that you two realized at the same time."

Miles lingered his gaze at Sonic. "Okay, Sonic," he responded. "If you insist."

The train ride continues on with Team Sonic headed up north to their waiting friends up at Canterlot High.

* * *

Rainbow and her friends have been called to the front courtyard to wait for their friends from Emerald High, as well as Twilight. They lounge around the courtyard and lean on the walls and statue, wondering when will they be arrive.

"So uh, why do we have to take the Best Squadron photo right here in Canterlot High grounds?" Applejack asks as she sits on the stairs.

Rainbow walked around the courtyard in front of the school doors. She stops in front of Applejack to give her an answer. "It's Twilight," she replies. "It all links to Twilight. She's transferring to here after that incident in the Columbia Games a few days back. In fact, that event traumatized her so much that she refuses to step back into Crystal Prep Academy grounds ever again."

Thunder then speaks up. "Isn't that school under an investigation about the school culture and how aggressive and competitive the students are?" he asks. "They're so toxic, they're willing to beat up a rival student if it means success for them."

The group remembers the brawl that broke out right here when two children of two principals just couldn't get along. It was a disaster, they remembered it as.

"That was several years ago," Rainbow said, "back when the public lost interest in the Columbia Games Junior League." She stops to let out a sigh. "It's because of Crystal Academy. They're winning so many times that the public does not care a bit about the outcome of the games, since the winner is clear." Then she turns to her friends. "But now that public interest has risen, thanks to us, they're going to realize that the tactics they're using will be visible to all who watched."

Applejack rolled her eyes at the fools at Crystal Academy. "Yeah, they're both toxic and slow to react," she said harshly. "They did not account for us coming in and participating in that."

Rarity spent time to polish herself up for the shoot, even though this photo is not for a formal event. "I've been thinking," she pondered out loud as she looks at her nails. "Do you think that Twilight will take on a different appearance transferring over to a new school?"

"Crystal Academy is made of elite students who came from rich families," Applejack reminded everyone. "This school is just made up of those from the middle class."

Rarity scoffs. "Well, my family may be rich from that company they made," she reminds her friends, "but I don't attend Crystal Academy. They never even bothered sending me there." Then something came to her. "I wonder if the toxicity has to do with them declining the offer. If that Silver darling were here, he would've gone to Crystal Academy. Or he could come here and-"

Rarity looks off to the side, only to find that Thunder is giving her a suspicious look.

"What?" Rarity asks, curious about why Thunder was giving her that look. "Was it something I said? Did I mention someone that you don't like? Was it the name Silver that tipped you out? I mean, I saw that you were attracted to me, but never beyond that. Then Silver came along and we hugged each other. Does that make you jealous?"

Thunder only responded with a sigh.

Pinkie pounced around the school, waiting for the visitors to arrive. She comes back to the front courtyard. "So, when are they coming?" she asks.

Rainbow looked at her watch. "It's nine for now," she said. Then she estimated the time of arrival based on the time it takes to get to here via train. "They should be arriving here right about-"

"We're here!" Rainbow's team heard Sonic said as he and his team ran into the courtyard. They appeared to be tired from all that running.

Rainbow gave a blank stare as she in interrupted by their arrival. "-now," she finishes.

Sonic wiped the sweat out of his head. That was a tiring jog, even for him. "Man that took a while to get from the station to here," he said. "I should've rented a few bikes and let my team ride their way here and-"

"Ahhhh!" the team heard Amy scream. Sonic turns around as Rainbow gasps at what she is seeing. Before Sonic could notice, Amy had her hammer swiped from her hands. She looks at her hands, wondering where it went. "Huh?" she blurts out. Then she looks around, only to find that Manic has stolen her hammer. He gave her a smirk, infuriating Amy and causing her to shout. "Hey! Give my hammer back!"

"They're allies, not rivals," Espio reminded. "Be nice to them, would you?" Then he leans up to Amy, threatening her not to do that again. "If I caught you pulling out that hammer again when there's not enemies around, you'll never get it back."

Sonic was relieved that he didn't get to see Amy pull out that hammer ready to smash either him or Rainbow. He was sure that-

"Rainbows!" someone else shouted from across the courtyard.

Uh oh. A worried look appeared on Rainbow's face.

"Zephyr?" she asks as she turns around.

Much to Sonic's horror, Zephyr was holding a hammer, much like Amy. Fluttershy could only help but avert her eyes from her unhelpful brother.

"You cheating heart!" Zephyr yells to Rainbow. "How dare you cheat on me!"

Amy shouted back at him. "Hey!" she replies back in a raised voice. "That was what I'm going to say!"

"This doesn't look good!" Sonic yelled as he ducks for cover.

Zephyr ran up to Rainbow and Sonic and brings his hammer down. When he opens his eyes, he notices that they were not hurt, much to his confusion. Then he realized something. His hands are empty! "Huh? Where did my hammer go?" he asks, looking around.

"Right here," Manic replies, grabbing Zephyr's attention. Manic swings the green hammer in his hands, taunting him. "You know, you really shouldn't put pressure on your to-be-partner. Want proof? Just as Amy."

Zephyr reels back in surprise at what he is hearing. "Pressure?" he asks. "What do you mean press-"

Zephyr was interrupted when Fluttershy decided that she had enough of her annoying brother and covers his mouth.

"Don't pat attention to this guy," Fluttershy said. "He's just a problematic brother that I happen to have."

Then a teacher comes around the outer corner and saw Zephyr there outside this intended classroom. "Zephyr!" he yells, startling him. "What are you doing here outside my classroom? I've been looking all over the school looking for you!"

Fluttershy let go of Zephyr's mouth as he is confronted with his teacher. He stutters as he tries to explains what he is going outside. "I-uh, was trying to meet up with...Rainbows over here," he answers, trying his best to look casual. "And...uh..."

But the teacher isn't buying into that. He points straight for the front doors. "Get back into the classroom," he ordered. "Or I will force you to do it."

"But sir I-" Zephyr tries to come up with an excuse, but his teacher doesn't but into that. He then immediately picks up Zephyr and takes him into the building. "Put me down!" Zephyr begged as his limbs flailed around in the air. "Put me down!"

"He's not the best brother to have around here," Fluttershy whispered to the others.

The others look at this member wannabe as he is taken indoors.

Then Applejack claps her hands together, catching everyone's attention. "Well, enough talkin'," she declared. "Let's get this photo started. Before we begin, where is Twilight? She's supposed to be here somewhere..."

Suddenly, the Celestia's voice boomed from the speakers into the courtyard. "Make way for Twilight!" she orders the two teams to do. "She's about to come! Get into positions now!"

The two teams make a lane into the horse statue, with Team Sonic standing on one side and The Rainbooms standing in another. The members then face their counterparts in each team, with the exception of Miles. He stands at the end of the lane, waiting to meet up with Twilight.

A car comes along with a magenta six-pointed star at the hood. It pulls up in front of the school, with the door lined up with the lines the two teams are making.

"That's the Sparkle Clan symbol," Rainbow points out, recognizing the symbol. "Could it be?"

The back door opens up and out comes Twilight Sparkle. Except, she looks different from her last appearance. She is still wearing her Crystal Academy clothing, but she has a purple vest bearing the Sparkle Clan symbol on top of her uniform. The glasses are no longer on her, her hair has been let down, and her side bangs have been straighten out.

Rarity takes a moment to look at Twilight's new look. "Oh my. Twilight," she observes, gasping in awe, "you look different now."

Twilight sighs as she knows that she is accepting a new lifestyle. "I know," she replies. "I left the high life and accepted the life of the majority of this country. What do you think?"

Silver points to Twilight's face. "Where are your glasses?" he asks. "I remember you having them on."

"I switched to prescription contacts," Twilight explains. "I do not want to look like some kind of nerd."

"And your vest..." Rarity points out.

"Found this in my closet," Twilight explains where she got it. "Decided to wear them over my Crystal Academy clothing. I checked my closet yesterday and it is mostly school uniforms. My casual clothes are all in the washer." She then looks forward and spotted Miles there, waiting on the other side of the line. She approaches him and kneels down to his height. "And...who might you be, little one?" she begins to ask. "You don't look like you should be in this place. What's going on?"

Miles smiled as he was about to tell Twilight about himself. "My name is Miles," he introduces himself. "Miles Prower. Like you, I was once bullied for being smarter than the rest..."

* * *

Twilight Sparkle Jr. is the youngest biological child of Twilight and Nightlight. She is named after her mother. Her brother is Dusk, her older brother and knight who is always there to defend her. Well, most of the time.

The most recent addition to the Sparkle Clan is a boy named Spike. Unlike Twilight Jr. or Dusk, he is not related to their mother. He's an adoptive brother, taken under the wings of both Twilight and Nightlight. Spike is often a source of trouble for the two children, often appearing in their rooms when they least expect it. Still, he is a run little bundle of surprises.

As Twilight was approaching her high school years, she gets a call from her parents from upstairs.

"Hey, daughter," Nightlight calls from the dining room. "You should come and take a look a this!" He is holding what appears to be a piece of paper.

Twilight walks down the stairs and into the dining room. "What is it?" she asks. "Something to do with my future?"

"We applied you to this school," Twilight's mother said, "and you've been accepted in."

Nightlight shows the paper to Twilight, and it makes her squeal with excitement.

"I've been accepted into Crystal Prep Academy?" she asks. "This is so exciting!" She bounces up and down as she discovers that she has been accepted to attend Crystal Prep Academy, one of the most elite schools in the country.

"The entry into this school was not easy," the mother remarks. "It comes with a high upfront fee just to apply to it, and even then not all students get in. Not you, sweetie. You have been selected!"

Twilight continued to cheer, hopping around the table as she cheers. "Yahoo! Yeah!" she says, jumping around. "I'll be attending Crystal Academy next year! This is exciting news! I've got to prepare myself!"

"Though," Nightlight almost forgot to brought up, "I have to warn you about Crystal Academy. It has something to do with the students. We not this warning from your older brother. He told us that some of the students aren't the kindest people you'll ever meet. Otherwise, hope you enjoy your stay!"

Twilight bowed to her parents. "Thanks mom. Thanks dad," she said. "I appreciate your support." And then she heads off into her room.

* * *

Weeks have passed, and at first, Twilight is enjoying being in Crystal Prep Academy. Nothing bad has yet to happen to her and the year is looking like it might be a good one. She is confident that this year will go well for her.

"The first quarter quiz grades have been submitted," her teacher announces. "We'll be handing your quizzes back. Please check your score and learn from any mistakes that you've accidentally made."

Twilight waited for her paper to come to her. It arrives and she checks the grade that she got. What she sees just makes her day brighter.

"A perfect score?" she asks, gripping onto her quiz paper. Then she jumps out of her seat. "Yes! I've got a perfect score! Thank goodness for my intellect." She signs in relief over a perfect score.

"What?" someone besides her said. "You've got a perfect score?"

Twilight snaps out of her daydream and looks at the student who said it. She recognizes the student as Sunny, her classmate and daughter of the principal of Crystal Prep Academy, Abacus Cinch. "Oh, hi there Sunny," she greeted. "How are you doing?"

"You've got a higher score than me?" Sunny asks. Then she looks at her paper, then shows her score to Twilight. "By one point? I was so close!" She slams her paper down onto her desk. "Principal Cinch has told me that I'm the most brilliant student in the world. But then you came in and proved me wrong!"

Twilight was confused by what Sunny meant. "Wh-what do you mean?" she asks.

"She's my mother," Sunny explains quietly. Then she picks up Twilight's quiz paper and shoves it into Twilight's face. "Enjoy your perfect score, you gloating maniac."

Twilight groans as she is insulted for her intellect.

* * *

Twilight's tales of woe did not stop there. Throughout the year, she would receive suspicious looks from her peers as she walked by them in the hallways, in classrooms, and outdoors. The students were clearly envious of her success, but Twilight doesn't know that. She doesn't know that the students were jealous of her being smarter than them, because it makes them look dumb in comparison.

One instance in a hallway has made her more exclusive to the outside world as the frequent torments pushed her farther and farther from the thers.

"Look at her," a student whispered to his girlfriend as Twilight passes by. "The smartest student out of all of us by a large margin."

"Let's not talk to her," his girlfriend suggested. "She's not the type to hang out with 'dumb freaks' like us."

Twilight stopped and turned to the couple. "What did I just hear?" she asks, wondering about what they just said.

The student and his girlfriend put on a casual look as they look at Twilight. "Nothing, Twilight," he said with assurance. "It's fine."

Twilight grew confused at the couple. She swears that they are talking about something else entirely. "Right..." she said as she moves on, ignoring the couple.

Twilight continues her way into her next classroom when suddenly, Lightning Dust came up from behind her.

"Coming through!" Lightning announces as she uncarefully shoves Twilight off to the side.

"Whoa!" Twilight yelps as she falls onto another student.

As Twilight and the student got up, the student growled at Twilight. "Hey! You pushed me!" she said, assuming Twilight did that.

"What?" Twilight gasps. "I did not! It was an accident!"

"You pushed me!" the student continues to assume.

Twilight got up and adjusts her glasses. "But, it wasn't my fault!" she says trying to defend herself. "I was just-"

"Don't tell me your lies," the student says, clearly stubborn about her decision. "You clearly pushed me!" She then procceds to shove Twilight into a distracted student, who gets pushed into his locker.

"Ow!" he shrieks. He pulls his head out his locket and glares at Twilight, angry about her. "Hey, watch where you're going!" he yells.

"Sorry!" Twilight apologizes. "I didn't mean to. I was-"

"Whatever," the student says, shrugging his injury off. Then he slams Twilight in the back. "Move it you lens wearing freak!"

The push was go hard that Twilight fell into the ground. And no one bothered to help her back up. Not a single one.

* * *

Over the months, Twilight got into more and more damaging situations where she was accused of doing something she did not do. Whenever she tries to defend herself, she got two reactions from her peers. Either she was dissed for defending like a coward, or she would continue to get accuse despite there being evidence otherwise.

She would continue to get good grades in nearly all subjects, but she feels a lot more stressed out than usual due to the torment she's been receiving. When even her teachers ignored the problems she's having, Twilight has no choice but to turn to her brother, Dusk, who has gone through the same school as her.

Twilight entered Dusk's room to beg him for assistance. "Brother, please," Twilight begged. "I was being tormented by the students of-"

"Would you please be quiet?" Dusk asks, putting his pencil down. "I'm trying to work here!" Then he goes back to doing his college work.

Twilight then tries again. "Dusk, remember all those problems about-" she tries to bring up.

"Hush now," Dusk said, turning his chair around. "This is your problem, not mine. Even if I were to help you, I wouldn't have the time to get my work done. A late work is a severe punishment at the college I'm attending. Do you understand?" Then he goes right back to work.

Twilight gets increasingly worried about not receiving help from anyone, not even her immediate family. She tries one more time to try to convince her brother to help her. "Brother, this is urgent," she says. "I need help now!"

"Go help yourself!" Dusk exploded in frustration, slamming his pencil down. "I am not available. This is not your childhood. You're in high school. Deal with it on your own terms."

Twilight went into tears when she realizes that not even her older brother is willing to help her.

So, everyone she knew was out. Principal Cinch was not available, her teachers straight up refused to help her, her parents can't help without evidence other than her mood when she gets home, Spike is just too young to be of any help, and Dusk refused to help afraid that he might fail. Even her babysitter, Cadence, was unable to help.

Once the actions of Principal Cinch finally came into light thanks to the broadcast of the Columbia Games Junior League and resulting investigation of Crystal Academy did her parents finally take action. They pulled her out of Crystal Academy and terminated her time there. Once they gotten word about the treatment that their daughter was receiving, they knew that something had to be done. Once Twilight declared that she was no longer going to Crystal Academy at all due to how toxic they are to her, it is time for them to sign the transfer papers to get her to move into Canterlot High School, which is reportedly a much safer environment for someone like her.

Twilight would never see Crystal Academy or Principal Cinch ever again.

* * *

"Rather than a super awesome brother to stand by my side whenever I'm hurt," Twilight tells Miles and everyone, "I'm left my myself because my brother had a lot of work to do. He didn't have enough time on his hands to help me out when I most needed." Twilight then gets out a tear as she remembers the events of the past year. "And my parents, they didn't know explicitly that I has having problems in school which is severely affecting me. Probably because of that...that Principal Cinch. I hope she gets fired from her job once the investigation is over. She's just too cruel."

The others gasp upon hearing Twilight's story and how similar it was to Miles' story, as well as how different and darker it was compared to the young boy.

"You poor thing..." Fluttershy replied after hearing the treatment Twilight's been receiving at Crystal Academy.

"No wonder you decided not to come back after the Columbia Games," Applejack said, lifting her hat up her head. "It was just too much for you."

"My parents might not be able to refund my application," Twilight said, "but it was worth it for the safety of my sanity." Then she turns to Miles. "You're lucky to have someone who can stand by you at all times, Miles. And at such a young age. You and Sonic, you two gave me a view of what I might look like if my brother had stood by me at all times."

Miles smiled back at Twilight as she rubbed him calmly.

"So, about your former classmates," Rainbow brings up. "Did they ever realize the mistake that they've made?"

Twilight thought about the answer for a moment. "As far as I know, no," she answers.

Silver sighs, shaking his head. "Let's hope that they received some punishment for their behavior," he hoped.

Photo Finish then comes into the courtyard, showing herself in front of the two allied teams. "Photo Finish reporting for duty!" she announces as she came in. "I have been requested by Principal Celestia to take a photo of all of you together for being voted as Best Squadron by your schools. So, are you ready to take a photo?"

The full team nodded, agreeing to take a photo with her.

"Tall people, in the back," she ordered. Knuckles and Applejack stand at the topmost step, where their faces rise above everyone else. "Leaders, in the front. Everyone else, occupy the middle two rows. Give each other some space for the pose."

The remaining eight team members take their position in the lower two steps. Meanwhile, Sonic, Rainbow, Miles, and Twilight stand at the bottom row.

Rainbow touched Twilight by the shoulder. "Welcome to the team, Twilight Sparkle," she said. "I hope you'll enjoy this school better than your previous school."

Photo Finish placed her camera on a tripod. She gives a thumbs up a the rangers, signaling that she is ready. "Alright! Everything is in check," she said. "Is everyone ready?"

"Ready!" everyone said in unison.

"Alright!" Photo Finish replies. "Pose and say, Super Squadron!"

The team agreed to say this phrase. They pose as if they are in a super sentai show. "Super. Squadron!" they said as the posed.

Snap! Photo Finish got her photo and is disappointed by the outcome. "Hey, what is that?" she asks. "Not everyone said that with passion. Alright now, let's try again! Pose now!"

Everyone posed again, this time with passion behind it. "Super! Squadron!"

Snap! Photo Finish took her picture, and notices that Fluttershy's face has been accidentally blocked. "Uhh, some faces are being blocked," she said. "One more try!"

The teams reassure themselves as they try again one more time. "Super! Squadron!"

Snap!

* * *

The resulting picture was perfect and is clear to print out. Due to how expensive the printing process is, the resulting pictures were delivered to the leader's house for them to keep and remember. The photo was delivered to their houses on the last day of school, fully flamed up and ready to hand.

Sonic and Rainbow could not help but smile at their newest friend. They hung the photo in their living room for them to look at whenever they can.

 **[End of Episode]**

* * *

 **From the Author:**

With Twilight joining The Rainbooms, our total main character total has risen to fourteen. Seven for each of the two teams. Now they're equal.

After losing their ranger powers, the team has been on the hunt for a new ranger power to replace their destroyed ones. They got nowhere and quickly forgot about it. They got close when Twilight came along with that powerful amulet of hers, but it turns out that its not what they're looking for. After the battle, it was rendered unusable. So they will have to look somewhere else.

Silver has mentioned that his family gem has mysterious untapped power, but so far he has found no way of extracting it. Maybe that's the answer they could be looking for...

* * *

Written by TheAPPstore

Sonic the Hedgehog character property of Sega

My Little Pony characters property of Hasbro


	14. June Birthday Party

**Episode 14**

 **"June Birthday Party"**

* * *

It's June 23rd, the day that Sonic was born. As well as Manic. With more friends than before, this birthday party will be bigger than their previous.

Sonic gets several surprises thrown at his face during the day. First, Pinkie pays him a visit and serves as his alarm clock. This his sister returned home. And finally, the real twin brother of Sonic comes into his house.

The sixteen year old mystery is about to be solved...

* * *

 **[Beginning of Episode]**

June 23, 2017 in the Common Calendar. School has just ended and summer vacation is starting. Students run outside as the last school bells ring, excited for the summer ahead and the new year.

For Sonic, this day is a special day, because today is his birthday. Well, his and Manic's birthday. The two were born on the exact same day in the same hospital, yet they know one thing. One is actually related to mother Aleena and the other she found in place of another son she had at the same day. She swears that she bore twins that look nearly identical. However, after hours of searching the hospital she's staying at, the doctors were not able to find her missing son. Neither did herself and Chuck. Left with no choice, Aleena took the imposter child as her own knowing full well that he does not share her genes.

A mystery lingered in the household for sixteen years. Who was Manic's real parents? And where did the third child go? Presumably, the parents of Manic are also the same people who mistook Aleena's third child as their own, yet they don't know the exact location of where they live. So this mystery remains unsolved for sixteen years straight.

Sonic is turning sixteen today, and he's not celebrating his sixteen birthday quite right. He still snores away even when the sun is shining on his body. His alarm clock is off for the summer, meaning that Sonic can snore away all he likes. To solve for this, everyone's favorite party girl is invited to serve as his alarm clock for now.

Pinkie creeps up next to Sonic's bed, getting ready to surprise him. She is up to his bed when she screams out, "Happy Birthday!"

"Gah!" Sonic shrieks as he wakes up suddenly. He flails his legs around in his bed as he is startled awake.

"Oops," Pinkie realizes. "Did I scare you?"

Sonic pants heavily as he wonders what's going on. Then he turns to his side and found Pinkie in his room, smiling at him. "Pinkie?" he gasps. "What are you doing in my room? Aren't you supposed to be in Canterlot City or something?"

Pinkie leans down on Sonic, wondering if he knows what's going on or what today is. "Did you read your calendar?" she asks. "You must be forgetting to do that, because it's June 23rd, your birthday!" She then points her hand towards the wall calendar on the wall, where today is a marked day labeled as Sonic's birthday. "And all of your friends are going to celebrate."

Sonic hops off his bed and walks up to his wall calendar. He reads the date and notices the mark he left earlier signaling his birthday in advance. "You're right," he says. "It is my birthday. My sixteenth. My sixteenth year of being on this world. And it's also Manic's birthday."

Pinkie suddenly turned her gaze to Sonic as he mentions that he shares a birthday with Manic. "Wait, you're twins?" she asks.

Sonic responds by turning towards Pinkie with a suspicious look on his face. "Does Manic and I look remotely similar?" he asks, pointing to his facial features.

The household has always known that Manic is not one of them. With green skin and hair instead of blue or purple and orange eyes compared to green, they know that something fishy has been going on with Manic. However, they decided not to solve it, as finding the real parents of Manic and the missing third child has proven to be not worth their time. So Chuck and Aleena raised Manic as if he's related to them, even though there is evidence to suggest otherwise.

Pinkie realizes that Sonic and Manic look nothing like, aside from their hairstyles. They didn't come from the same mother, she concludes. "Oh. So you two share a birthdate," she realizes. "Huh. Well, otherwise, congratulations! You are now qualified to drive!" She then proceeds to swap her arm around Sonic's neck.

Sonic rolls his eyes as he lifted Pinkie's arm off of him. "Umm, no thanks," he says, putting a frown on Pinkie's face. "I won't be getting a car to drive on. This place is densely packed, and everything that I would like to go there is within walking distance. The train station, the youth center, the park, and everything in between. Don't need a car for that when I can just walk there."

"So?" Pinkie asks, wondering if Sonic is considering to drive. "Don't you need a car or something? You know, for faraway places?"

Sonic shook his head. "I can always take the train and get to there," he says. "Or I could take the bus." Speaking of that, another question came into Sonic's mind. How did Pinkie get to here? "You arrived here via train didn't you?"

"And that's exactly what she did," Manic said, peaking into Sonic's bedroom door.

Sonic turns to Manic, wondering what's going on. "Manic, what part did you take in this?" he asks.

Manic giggle. "I invited her to come here last night," he answered. "Just for our birthday."

Then another question came to Sonic. "Did she just sleep downstairs without me knowing?" he asks.

The trio then walks downstairs towards the living room, where he discovers that Pinkie has decided to make a bed out of one of the couches. A candy colored blanket and pillow is seen as well.

Sonic sighs as he realizes that Pinkie has slept over in his house. "Well, that explains it," he remarks.

* * *

Rainbow and her friends are taking the morning southbound train to Emerald City, specifically in the Knothole District in the northern limits of the city. The Rainbooms were invited to Sonic's birthday party by Pinkie. Pinkie is already there, so the six friends make their way south towards the other leader's house.

Rainbow looks outside at the passing terrain. "With lots of friends comes a lot of opportunities to host a party," she remarks. "However, it's been a while since any of us attended each other's birthday party. Last time that happened was my own."

"That's because you're the leader," Applejack replies. "You're the most important member of the team as a leader, so it seems natural that all of us attended your birthday party."

"Speaking of that," Rainbow added, "My birthday party did not go as planned." Then she lists out all the reasons that it went horribly. "The party took place during the fallout of our disastrous attempts at defending ourselves at Babylon Garden."

"Oh yeah," Rarity begins to remember that day. "I remember that."

"Pinkie was only here due to being depressed," Rainbow continued, "and I reentered my house a little to early because I got suspicious."

"Yeah," Applejack chuckles, remembering what an event Rainbow's birthday party was. "You got suspicious when you realized that today was your own birthday and you were sent on errands to delay you." Applejack continues to chuckle.

Rainbow snapped herself out of the memories of her birthday party an focused on the birthday party of her friend. "Whatever," she said, declaring the topic to be done. "We're heading towards Sonic's birthday party. Considering that he now has thirteen friends, he'll have to expect..." Rainbow then pondered as she calculates the total visitors. "...Fourteen visitors in his house. Including my parents."

"Make that fifteen," someone said besides them.

The team turned to the boy. He is mostly in blue, with his physical features being blue. The exception is his eyes, which is green. He is sitting on the train waiting for his destination to come. Strangely, he seems familiar, especially to Rainbow, Thunder, and Fluttershy.

Applejack got up and approached the boy. "Huh? Sonic?" she asks. "Aren't you supposed to be in your home?"

The boy turns his head around, wondering what she meant. "What?" he asks. "I don't understand what you're saying. Are you mistaking me for someone else?"

Applejack was confused. She swears that this is Sonic because he looks like Sonic. Then Rainbow steps in to clear the confusion. "That's not Sonic," she points out. "That's Soarin! I mistook Sonic for him once and that was during my first meeting with Sonic."

Everyone in the team sees that they've mistaken someone for someone that they know.

Rainbow then sits next to Soarin, who she has not seen for a while. "So, what brings you here?" she asks.

Soarin gets himself comfortable in his seat as he explains why he is here traveling to Emerald City. "I was getting a bit curious about your spiky blue-haired friend over in the south," he explains. "I swear that he looks familiar. He looks almost like me. I'm coming over there to see him. Who knows if we are related."

The friends did not pay much attention to Soarin's question about familial relationship. Except for Rainbow. She wonders what is up with her friend. Soarin mentions that he almost looks like Sonic, but not quite. Could the physical features give a clue? Maybe. But until more information is revealed, Rainbow is left wondering about the connection between Sonic and Soarin.

* * *

Back at Sonic's house, the household is setting up decorations for the party. Pinkie then decides to help out by pulling out her new item. A party cannon.

"Prepare for Banzai!" Pinkie shouted as she sprayed party decorations everywhere.

The party cannon was a success, though it made a mess out of the living room.

Manic scratches his head, wondering about the effectiveness of Pinkie's new tool. "Hmm, you sure that your party cannon is working properly?" he asks.

Pinkie, still maintaining her cheerful domineer, explains to her friends. "Oh, this is just a test phase," she explains. "The final version won't make a mess like this."

Sonic then gets mad at Pinkie for creating a mess that is hard to clean up. "What makes you think that it was good idea to test this right now?" he shouted. "This place is a mess now! Imagine the horror when mom sees this."

Just then, Aleena comes downstairs, hearing some noises coming from the living room. When she arrives, she gasps in horror at what she is seeing. The living room is a mess. Who would want to come to a party like this?

"What is the world is this?" Aleena asks, with Chuck peeking from the corner. There were decorations in...less than appropriate places. She turns to Pinkie, who is holding her party cannon. "Pinkie, did you did this?"

Pinkie blushes from embarrassment. "Oops," she apologizes for making a mess out of decorations. "Didn't mean too."

Aleena grouches. "Urg, this place is a mess now!" she commented. "This does not look like a party to me."

"What should we do?" Manic asks.

"The obvious," Aleena answers. "Clean this mess up before the attendees came."

"In that case, we should get working now!" Sonic demanded. "They could be arriving at any moment."

The household plus Pinkie then got to work in cleaning up the living room to make it seem more like a party with care put into it. After all, it's a party dedicated into celebrating the leader and Manic. With people this important involved, it's important not to screw up.

As they were picking up streamers, Pinkie turned to Sonic, asking him something. "So, Sonic," she asks, grabbing his attention. "Were you planning to make this a surprise party for you, just like with Rainbow?"

Sonic took a break from picking up scattered decorations and lounged on the couch. "My parents are the caring kind. They don't send me off somewhere so that they can prepare everything before I come back. They'll think I'll become suspicious." This reminds him about the other leader's birthday party. "Remember Rainbow's party?" he said, bringing up the event again. "She got suspicious a few minutes into her jog, and so came home only to find that the party decorations were partially done. We did make the most out of that party, so at least it was not a lost cause."

Pinkie then understands what Sonic is saying. "Oh," she responds. "So, any surprises planned?"

Sonic glared into Pinkie. "The only surprise today was you showing up in my room shouting into my ear as a makeshift alarm clock," he says. Then he tops it off with a sarcastic response. "Thank you."

As the household continued to clean up, someone knocked on the door.

Manic quickly turned into a state of anxiety. "Oh no," he says, "the guests have arrived." He then calls to the front door. "Just stay right there a little longer! You'll come in eventually."

The knocking continues, this time a voice came from the other side.

"Mom?" the voice asks. "It's me!"

That voice...it's familiar to the household. Perked up amidst the mess, Aleena gets up and answers the door. She opens it up, and there waiting on the other side was a magenta girl, a bit older than Sonic.

Aleena grew happy when she saw that face in person. "Sonia!" she says as she hugs her daughter. "You're back!"

The household then jumps in, welcoming Sonia back with warm arms.

Pinkie's heart melted into sweetness as she saw the household welcoming back a faraway relative. "Aww," she says. "That's so sweet. So are you guys are a family?"

The household then stops hugging Sonic an presented the entire household to Pinkie. "We are a family connected by genetics," Manic explains, showing off the household he's living in. Then he looks around, pointing out that he is different. "Well, except for me. As you can see, I'm quite different from my parents and siblings."

Pinkie did not mind. Her eyes were sparkling when she saw the family back together. "Wow," she says in awe.

Sonic then talks to his sister. "So Sonia," he begins asking, "what brings you back home?"

"I figure that I might take a break from living in Japan now that school is out," Sonia answers. "Might as well spend a few months in my old house or so."

Aleena smiles upon hearing he news that her daughter has come back for the summer, taking a vacation away from Japan into her original home. "Welcome back, sweetheart," she says, hugging Sonia again. Then she lets go and taps Sonia in the shoulders. "Now hurry! Clean up the decorations before the other guests arrive. It's your sibling's birthday!"

Sonia entered the living room, seeing that it's still a mess. "What happened here?" she asks.

"There's no time!" Chuck yells. "Clean this mess up!"

Today, Sonic experiences two surprises. First, Pinkie shows up early to help prepare the party. Then, Sonia returns home, planning to have a vacation right at her old home. This birthday party is turning out have more surprises than he initially expected.

* * *

The Rainbooms plus Soarin arrive at their stop and got off the train. As they walked to their destinations, more questions pop up in Rainbow's head regarding Soarin. She asks him a few question.

"So, about your family," Rainbow began. "Who are they?"

"My parents looked quite different from me," Soarin answers, recalling what his parents were like. "Or at least, I was different from them. My parents were eccentric old pals, breaking out into mental outbursts at times. I never suffered from the conditions my parents are going through, and they don't know why."

Some of the pieces are coming together. There appears to be a hidden secret within her friend Soarin, but is not curtain yet. She asks him again. "What brings you here?" she asks. "What brings you to Emerald City?"

The group got off the station and into the streets. Soarin turns to Rainbow. "Remember Sonic?" he asks. "He's your ally, am I correct? Well, after he and his team performed a few deeds in defending his home, I noticed something strange about him. The colors..."

"You're blue, right?" Applejack pointed out. "And those green eyes..."

Rainbow is gathering more pieces of the puzzle. So far, she knows that Manic is different from the rest of his household, and so was Soarin. He and Sonic share a lot of physical characteristics such as hair color and eye color. But there is one more thing missing from the puzzle. She catches up with Soarin to ask him one more question. "So, when is your birthday?" she asks.

"June 23, 2001," Soarin replies without hesitation.

"June 23?" Applejack reacted. "That's today! And...it's also Sonic's birthdate. And Manic's."

Twilight is skeptical about this idea that Soarin and Sonic are related. "I'm pretty sure that it is a coincidence," she says. "There must be a logical explanation behind this."

Rainbow turned to Twilight. "The only logical explanation you'll find is-" she says. Then, something clicked inside her head. She stopped as she puts the puzzle pieces together. The looks, the household he's living in, and his birthday. It has to be it. There is no other way that this could go into. "Wait! I've got it!" she yells, coming to a conclusion. The others stopped, looking at her. "This has to be it! It must be!"

The others stare at Rainbow with confusion. "What?" Applejack asks.

Rainbow was to excited to reveal this to her friends first. She just had to show it to Sonic. She grabs the arm of Soarin and runs off. "Come on, Soarin!" she shouts as she ran, dragging Soarin behind her.

Soarin nearly trips as he gets dragged along. "Wha-where are you taking me?" he asks.

"We're going to Sonic's house!" Rianbow answers with excitement.

Applejack watched as her friend ran away, leaving them behind. "Rainbow!" she yells, beginning to run after her. "Wait for us!"

The others ran along with Applejack, catching up with Rainbow.

* * *

The household finishes cleaning up the living room. In addition, all the party decorations are set properly. The house is set to host the birthday party of Sonic and Manic.

"Phew!" Aleena said, fanning herself with her hand. "That was tough!"

Sonic stretches from picking up confetti. "And just in time, to," he says, checking the clock. "They'll be here in a short-"

A sudden knocking on the door interrupts Sonic.

Sonic blinked as the knocking continues. "-while?" he finishes.

The knocking continues as Aleena stares at the front door. "Hang on, who could this be?" she asks,

"Is it the attendees?" Pinkie asks.

Manic turned to Pinkie. "Don't you mean our friends?" he asks back.

Pinkie returns the favor by looking back at Manic. "Well, they're attending this party," she explains.

The knocking continues on before it paused. At which point, they heard Rainbow's voice coming from the other side. "Sonic!" Rainbow screams from outside. "I have something to show you!"

Sonic gives up with waiting for someone to answer the door and gets up to answer it himself. "Okay," he says, opening the door. "That's the third surprise I had tod-"

He stopped himself as soon as he saw someone next to Rainbow. What is going on, he asks himself.

Rainbow notices that Sonic is giving her a blank look. "You okay?" she asks.

Sonic blinked as he is seeing what's outside his house. Is it...someone who looks like him? "Am...am I dreaming?" he asks, looking around.

Rainbow then had a laugh when a memory came back to her. "Remember when I mistook you as Soarin?" she asks. "Well, here's your reason! This is Soarin!"

Sonic still couldn't believe his eyes. "Am I...looking at a mirror?" he asks.

"What is going on he-" Pinkie said as she storms towards the front door. Then she sees Sonic and his imposter staring at each other through the door. She looks at the two for a moment, before something hits her. "Hold on..." she says, trying to process what she is seeing. Then she screams. "ARE YOU TWO BROTHERS?"

The two boys blinked as they looked at each other, then tripped backwards upon realizing this. "Brothers?" they both said at the same time.

Aleena and Chuck walked up to the front door, wondering what all the fuss is all about. Then she saw Soarin there, looking at Sonic. Aleena couldn't help but gasp as she saw someone familiar. "Could it be?" she asks.

Chuck couldn't believe it. "Our missing third child?" he asks, completing Aleena's question.

Sonia walked up to her parents. "Wait, didn't you say that your sons are twins?" she asks.

Chuck nodded in response. "Yes, Sonia," he answers. "Born on the exact same date, and having similar physical appearances."

Sonia looked at the two boys other than Manic, and lost track of who Sonic was. "Uhh, which one of those two is Sonic?" she asks, looking at the two boys. "I can't tell from here."

The others did not respond. They're still shocked that their missing third child has returned.

Soarin enters the house, still staring at Sonic. Rainbow took the pleasure of closing the door behind him as they enter.

Sonic shook his head in disbelief, questioning if he is seeing correctly. "This can't be," he says. "Are you really...my twin brother?"

"This can't be happening," Soarin added.

"Oh yes it can!" Rainbow replies.

The household, Pinkie, and Soarin looked at Rainbow, wondering what she is talking about.

"Why is that?" Pinkie asks.

Rainbow focuses on Soarin as she gives her explanation. "Soarin, once you started telling me information about your family, I noticed something," she said. "Your parents frequently have mental outbursts. It was been reported that Manic suffers from the same thing." the others were catching up with what Rainbow is thinking as she put the puzzle together. Rainbow focuses on Sonic. "Also, your appearance," she continues. "You reminds me of someone, so much that I mistook you for Soarin." She turns her attention back to Soarin. "But I can't make a conclusion without your birthdate. So I asked you about your birthdate. And you said June 23rd, which is the same as Sonic's birthdate. And that's when I discovered that you two are really brothers!"

The others continued to look at Rainbow even after she gives her explanation.

Sonic walks up to Rainbow. "I didn't know that you were really into genetics," he says, learning something about his friend.

With the answer in front of her, Aleena stepped forward. "So, it's been done," she says. "Our mystery child is here, right in front of our eyes."

Rainbow turns to Sonic's parents. "How did you lost Sonic's twin brother and got Manic?" she asks.

Chuck shook his head, the event long past with the details being vague. "It's a long time ago and the details are vague," he says. "But what I do know is that there has been a mix-up at the hospital where Aleena gave birth to Sonic and his twin brother."

"When I was discharged, I came into the delivery room to pick up my children," Aleena recalls. "I was going to pick up Sonic and Soarin, but what I got was Manic in place of Soarin. I tried to look for where he went, but I got nothing. In the end, I have no choice but to accept Manic as my own. However, I am sure that the guardians of Soarin are the same as the real parents of Manic."

Manic turned to Soarin, surprised at what he is hearing. "Wait, so your parents were really my biological parents?" he asks.

"Well, that explains the mental outbursts," Sonic remarks.

"And to think," Chuck says, "this is the birthday party for all three of you. We might need to celebrate you three."

Soarin has finally found his real, biological parents. But Manic has yet to find his own.

"But, what about my real parents?" Manic asks. "Don't we have to invite them over?"

Soarin suggests otherwise. "Eh, don't," he says. "They're currently going through another mental episode. You'll have to wait for now." Then something else came into his mind. "Although, you may pay a visit to them if you want."

Standing by them, Rainbow and Pinkie watched as the family branch reunited. Pinkie has her heart sank as she watched the family welcomed Soarin with warm arm.

"Wow," Rainbow remarks. "This birthday party has turned into a family reunion. Speaking of which, where is the rest of our guests?"

Just as Rainbow wondered when the rest of her friends will be arriving, there is a knock on the front door once again.

"I got it," Rainbow says, going up to the door and opening it up.

Applejack, along with the rest of The Rainbooms and Team Sonic, were outside waiting to come in. The Rainbooms, however, seem tired from all that running.

"Man, you've really shouldn't have run, Rainbow," Applejack says, gasping for air. "We were very far behind and-" Then she looks inside, only to find what appears to be two Sonics. "Wait, what in tarnation is going on over there?"

Sonic and Soarin looked at each other, then back to the front door. "Well, haven't you figured it out?" Sonic asks.

Applejack was still confused. "Am I seeing two Sonics here?" she asks. Then she walks up to Sonic and Soarin, looking at the two of them. "Are...are you twins perchance?"

"We are!" Sonic and Soarin reveal to everyone else.

* * *

The party then gets going, celebrating the birthday of three kids. While everyone is having fun playing some party games and hanging out, Twilight and Rainbow had a talk on the couch.

"I may be smart and all, to the point that my peers are jealous," Twilight remarks. "But I never expected you to come up with a conclusion. You've made one even faster than I could."

Rainbow then had a chuckle. "That's the bonus of being an athlete," she said. She lightly taps on her head. "Read any medical journals about the effects on movement on mental health?"

Twilight shifts her eyes away as she wonders how could exercise possibly have an effect on mental health.

Meanwhile, Aleena and Chuck are seeing their three biological children playing together, with Manic sitting by watching his siblings have fun. "It's good to see all three of my biological children here," Aleena sighs. "I spent sixteen years looking for my missing third child, and he came here on his sixteen birthday.

Sonic then spoke to his parents. "This day has been full off surprises," he says. "First, Pinkie showed up in my room to wake me up, then my sister Sonia came back home after studying abroad for a few years, then Rainbow burst into my house only to bring another surprise with her. My real twin brother."

Pinkie then jumped into this conversation. "See? I knew that your party is going to be huge with all the surprises coming in," she says. "Didn't expect those to come in, did you?"

Sonic pondered for a moment. "Umm...no," he replies. "I didn't expect those to come in for me."

There was yet another knock on the front door. Ranbow ran in to answer it.

"I got this," Rainbow says as she answers the door. She opens it up, only to find her parents here. "Mom! Dad! You're here!"

"There you are, Rainbow!" Bow says, opening his arms in a warm embrace. Rainbow ran up to hug her father. "We were so worried when we lost you."

Firefly approached Aleena asking about something. "This should be the right house, isn't it?" she asks, needing verification.

"You're in the right place, Firefly and Bow," Aleena verifies. "You're attending a party for three children."

Bow was baffled when he heard about this. "Wait, three children?" he asks. "I though that this was going to be a party for two children!"

"We've...found our lost child," Aleena explains. "Sonic's real twin brother."

Bow was even more confused. "And who is that?"

Aleena looked at the children as they were playing a game. Then she looks back at Rainbow's parents, pointing at Soarin.

"Seen this face the last time you visited this place?" she asks.

* * *

The parents of Sonic and Rainbow are having a chat with each other as Sonic and Soarin sat at a couch watching them talk. Rainbow sat next to Sonic, making him sitting between Rainbow and Soarin. While the parents are talking, Sonic nudges himself closer to Soarin, prompting to have a chat with him.

Sonic shakes himself up as he prepares to speak with his twin brother. "So, brother-" he begins.

"Please," Soarin interrupts, looking further away from Sonic. "Call me Soarin, would you?"

Sonic continued to stare at his twin brother. "Right," he says. So then he tries again, this time addressing his twin brother properly. "So, Soarin. How is life after school?"

"Not much has changed," Soarin answers. "Still hanging out with my good friends Spitfire and Fleetfoot."

Sonic got curious when he heard those two names. "Who are those two?" he asks.

"They're expert athletes," Rainbow answers. Sonic turns behind him to look at Rainbow as she speaks. "Close to my skill level, but still experts. I've heard that Spitfire is planning to go on skydiving adventures with her uncle."

Soarin smiles as he points to himself. "I'm an expert athlete as well," he chuckles.

Sonic turns his attention back at Soarin. "Wow," he begins to remark. "Guess athleticism runs in the family because my sister, Sonia, has been reported to be going a pretty good job in sports. You can thank my-I mean, our parents for giving us those traits." Sonic got into a shaking fir as he corrects himself.

"Which ones?" Soarin wonders.

Sonic looked at his parents as they talked. He doesn't seem to remember which of the two is the more athletic ones, however. He gives a shrug. "I don't know," he responds, brining disappointment.

Out in a kitchen, a stove timer goes off. Applejack opens the oven and pulls out some nice, delicious Apple Pie. She sets it down on the table. "Hey guys!" she shouted, her voice going through the entire house. "I have some apple pie ready in stock!"

Soarin had his mouth watering at the smell of apple pie. "Apple pie?" he pants. Then he stands up, waving his arms in the air. "Oh! Give me some! Give me some!"

Applejack cuts off a slice of the apple pie and hands it to him on a plate. "Here you go, my friend," she says.

Soarin happily scarfs down the serving of apple pie. As he chews, he notices that Sonic is not interested in having some apple pie. "Hey, aren't you going to have some?" he asks.

Sonic shook his head, looking bored. "No thanks," he said. "I prefer chili dogs."

Soarin was confused. "Hey, I thought that tastes run in the family," he said.

"No they don't," Rainbow said in a deadpan tone.

Soarin continue to look at Sonic, paying attention to his belly. "Come on, let me try," he says, nudging Sonic.

Sonic grew angry at Soarin. "I'm not hungry for some pie," he said.

Soarin grew a frown on his face. "Well, maybe after you try some, maybe you'll like it," he said. Then he winds the plate back. "Here! Have a taste!"

Soarin then slams the plate onto Sonic. The impact made a crack in the ceramic, but it smeared apple pie all over Sonic's face. The sound startles Rainbow, as she was not expecting that to happen.

Applejack groans and frowns at the sight of Sonic's messy face. "Aww, shucks," she groans. "You wasted a perfectly good slice of apple pie."

Aleena frowned at Soarin after that smashing sound startled everyone in the room. "Soarin, don't toss pies at someone else face."

Soarin was not listening. He continued to look at Sonic even after he smashed a pie in his face. "So? How does it taste?" he asks.

Sonic did not answer to that question. Instead, he goes for a napkin. "I'll go wash my face," he says as he left the couch.

After Sonic went into the bathroom to clean his face, there was another knock on the door. This annoys Aleena.

"Not again," she says. "How many guests did we invite?"

"I got this," Manic said as he goes to answer the door. Aleena follows behind him, just to be safe.

Manic opens the door, and founds a pair of two green adults waiting outside.

"Where is Soarin?" the man roared, muting everyone.

Everyone stared at the man as he stomped in the house.

"I swear that he ran away from home hours ago," the man continued to roar. "He must be here somewhere. Where is he?"

"What are you talking about?" Aleena asks.

The man and the woman stare at Aleena. Then they looked down, and spotted someone who resembles them quite well. "What?" the man gasps. "Could it be?"

Manic looked at the two adults as Soarin walks up behind them. He starts to feel a bit of a...familial vibe coming from them. And that's when he realizes...

"Wait..." Manic said. "Mom? Dad?"

Aleena was quire surprised as well. She looks at the adults. "You are the one that was accidentally swapped with Soarin?" she asks.

Manic was down to his knees. "What is going on here?" he asks, slowly slipping into insanity. "No...it can't possibly be-"

Chuck stormed into the front doors. "So you're the real parents of Manic?" he asks the unexpected visitors. "After all those years, you came right here?"

The man looked at Manic, realizing that it's his son that he's looking at. "Well, forget Soarin," he decides, turning away. "Let's take our real boy back."

As the adults attempt to leave with Manic in tow, Manic stood up and spoke out to his real parents. "I'm not going," he declares.

The green adults stop and turns their gaze back at Manic. "Why?" the woman gasp. "Why is that, son?"

Manic then looked at Aleena and Chuck. Then he returns his attention back to his real parents. He takes a deep breath as he says this. He hasn't seen them since he has born. "It's..." he began, hesitating. "It's because...I lived here my whole life."

"What?" the green adults reacted.

"I can't simply leave this place all of a sudden," Manic explains. "I've been here for so long that it's hard to move away from the family that I grew up with. I'll miss them dearly, even if we're a train ride away." He begins to tear up.

Before either Chuck or Aleena could speak, Soarin comes in besides them. "And mom, dad," he begins to tell them. "Before you insist that I move here, let me tell you that this is my first time coming to this place. I'm not used to living with this household." He then turns towards the green adults. "I think I'll...just stay with you and make occasional visits to here."

The two pairs of adults nodded slightly in agreement.

The Pinkie pops up out of nowhere, welcoming the unexpected visitors. "And besides, you're also here to celebrate Soarin's birthday!" she says,.

"What? Really?" the two adults gasped.

"Yes, really," Pinkie replies. Then she took their hands and dragged them in. "Come on in and enjoy the fun!"

* * *

It is revealed that Manic's real parents are named Schizo and Cholic. There appears to be a theme going on in here.

Whatever the case, it is time for the birthday photo featuring all whose birthday is featured as well as their parents. As a third birthday person is also attending this party as well as the parents of another, decisions have to be made regarding this strange series of events.

"So, how are we going to plan this out?" Manic asks as the camera is being set up.

Sonic took his seat as he turns to Manic. "Simple, really," he answers, though meaning that it's really a bit confusing. "Soarin, Sonia, and I will sit next to our biological parents. Aleena and Chuck. You, on the other hand, will stand by your biological parents. Schizo and Cholic."

Sonia looks at the real parents of Manic, who are also the adoptive parents of Soarin. "Your parents are crazy, aren't they?" she asks.

"Well, if you're named after mental disorders then you know that your life is going to get weird," Soarin replies. "Am I right?"

The camera is finally ready, with Rainbow at the helm. "Alright, families in position," she said, waving her hand. "Get ready to have a photo."

The families get into position, and then a photo is taken, with both households visible in frame.

* * *

The party ends as the sun nears the horizon. Sleep time is approaching and everyone is tired after all that parting.

"By everyone," Sonic bids to everyone as they leave for their homes. "Have a great day!"

Soarin and his household were the last to leave. Before he left, he turns to wave at this real family as well as to Manic. "Be sure to pay a visit to my home every once in a while, Manic," he told them.

"I'll try when I have free time in Canterlot City," Manic replies.

Soarin smiles and then ran away to catch up with his adoptive parents.

The three children then let their arms down as the last guest leaves.

"So, Manic," Sonia began, "Now that the real brother has showed his face to us, should we still call you a brother even though we know that you're not related to us?"

Manic looked at his siblings which he's been living with. "Eh," he answers, giving a shrug. "You guys considered me a brother to you for years. Let's keep it that way. And besides, I'm a part of your household."

"So, we're still calling you a brother?" Sonic asks, looking for clarification.

"Pretty sure," Manic answers, confirming that he will still be referred to as a brother. "It'll be very confusing if I'm a part of your household and yet does not use familial terms when referring to me."

The two siblings then had a laugh. "Okay," Sonic said. "We're still calling you a brother. Even though you're not actually biologically related to us."

Sonia continued to laugh, before she caught her breath. "Okay, I think that's enough," she said. "Time to head back inside."

The trio then reenter their house as the night approaches.

 **[End of Episode]**

* * *

 **From the Author:**

Did you expect this to come?

The inspiration for the Sonic's brother subplot was when I would sometimes mistake Soarin for Sonic, because the two looked so similar aside from their hairstyles. Also, in this universe, Manic has eyes which are a different hue than the rest of his family, meaning that he could not be related to then. Oh, and remember that time when Manic has an episode of a unknown mental illness? Yeah, that and the parents' explanation further proves that Manic is not related to Sonic, at least biologically.

Don't expect anything game changing from this episode. Remember, our man characters are still looking for new ranger powers and this discover has no relation to that in any way. However, do expect something related to the search for the new ranger powers in a few episodes to be found. You should know. I wrote my main ranger series before I worked on the prequels.

Now, it's not a matter of if they will discover the new powers, but when. Who knows when the next big news will arrive.

* * *

Written by TheAPPstore

Sonic the Hedgehog characters, property of Sega

My Little Pony characters, property of Hasbro


	15. Sleepover at Twilight's

**Episode 15**

 **"Sleepover at Twilight"**

* * *

A bizarre metrological event has sparked in Columbia: A thunderstorm in summer! Apparently, a storm formed near the tropics and made its wat north, sparking very strange weather.

Caught in the heavy rainfall, Applejack and Rarity are forced to take refuge in whatever house they could find to wait out the storm. And it so happens to be Twilight's house that they're staying at. Twilight gets excited over her first sleepover, as she has never had one before. With her family gone, the girls will have to make the most out of things.

However, the two girls can't seem to agree with each other on what they should do. With different outlooks on how they lived, a clash of customs ensues.

Based on the Friendship is Magic episode, "Look Before you Sleep" {S1 E8}

* * *

 **[Beginning of Episode]  
**

The morning radio news goes off with some alarming news to give to its listeners.

"Breaking news in Columbia!" a news reporter said.

From space, a tropical storm is making its way northward from it's tropical location. The edge of the storm is touching the southern edge of Columbia.

"A tropical storm is making it's way north towards the middle latitudes," a weather reporter announces. "Tropical storms are rare in these parts of the country. Residents are getting prepared to be hit by a rare storm."

"We'll give you the updates for the duration of this storm," a news reporter said. "Stay tuned."

* * *

The storm is expected to arrive in about six hours, touching major cities sometime in the after noon. People are expecting strong winds to come at them, but not strong enough to uproot trees and fling them at people's houses. Still, people are making an effort to minimize the damage. Loose branches pose a large threat to buildings, so people are taking them down in an attempt to stop them from flying into their shelter when the storm arrives here.

Applejack is busy using her lasso to take down the loose branches, yanking them from her end and bringing them down to the ground. Meanwhile, Rarity is not helping out, preferring to prune the branches to create some interesting structures.

Rarity slowly brings her shears to the last piece of wood that she needs to cut. She comes in carefully and snips the piece off. "Perfect!" she said, returning into a state of calm. "My latest creation is complete!" She stands up, admiring her work, when a branch falls down on it and crushes it. "What the?" she gasps as she looks around. Then she sees Applejack next to a nearby tree. "Applejack!"

Applejack wipes the sweat off of her as she gets her rope back. "Forget trying to prettifyin' the landscape," she said. "We have a storm coming. Our job is to prune the trees so that they don't create damage."

Rarity frowns at Applejack. "Well, aren't you making a mess out of this hill?"

Turns out that there was a lot of loose branches in the nearby trees, and Applejack worked hard to take all of them down. The resulting number of branches has made the hill covered in pieces of wood and leaves.

Applejack groans in annoyance. "Look, Rarity," she began. "The storm's will make a bigger mess if we don't take out the loose branches before hand. Now get back to work! I don't want to see these gosh darn branches flying in people's faces."

"Well," Rarity said, rolling her eyes, "the storm will take a long time to get here. After all, the effects of the storm has yet to come to-"

Suddenly, a thunderclap is heard from a distance, and shortly after rain beings to pour down.

"What the hay?" Applejack gasps in wonder. "The downpour's here already?"

Rarity's hair flops onto her face. "Ahh! My hair!" she screams. "It's going to be ruined!"

Applejack turned towards Rarity as the wind speed increases and the sky gets covered up in clouds. "Maybe if ya focused less on beauty and more of safety, we're won't be caught in this mess!" she said.

Suddenly, again, the windspeed gets cranked up to a strong breeze. The two girls guard against the wind as people began to make a break for their houses.

"Ahh! It's coming to fast!" Rarity screams. "Quick! Find a place to hide! Please! Help me out!"

Applejack holds on to her hat as the wind increases. Then she looks around, finding a place to hide. Then she finds a bench sitting there near the sidewalk. "Uh...how about we wait out the storm over there?" she said, pointing to the bench.

Rarity and Applejack walk up to the bench. Then the look under it, only to find that there is mud accumulating under the bench. "There?" Rarity gasps, pointing towards the bench. "But it's muddy!"

Applejack rolls her eyes as she stands in the muddy grass. "Urg," she groans. "Here we go again."

"Couldn't you just find someplace nicer?" Rarity asks.

"You can just clean up later!" Applejack shouted. "Beauty has no place in a time like this! We'll have to take whatever we find to wait out this dang storm." Then she scoffs. "There's just no pleasin' with you around!"

Rarity crosses her arms as she moves her wet hair off her face. "I knew I should've gone with someone who fits my viewpoint," she said.

The windspeed increases again, to the point where Applejack and Rarity are starting to move, the wind dragging them through the ground.

"Forget this!" Applejack declares. "The wind's just too strong!"

"Where will we hide now?" Rarity asks.

"Applejack! Rarity!" a voice said from behind them.

The girls had a little bounce inside them as they heard that voice. "Huh? Who said that?" Applejack said, looking behind them.

Then the two girls look behind them and found Twilight poking her head out the door, waving at them.

"Come in here and take shelter!" Twilight commanded. "Quick!"

The two girls then make a break for Twilight's place, with Applejack still holding on to her hat as she runs.

* * *

Rarity immediately jumped into Twilight's house, taking her shoes off and goes off to find a towel. Meanwhile, Applejack stands outside in the constant strong winds.

Applejack takes a look around the place. "So, uh, where is this place, Twilight?" she asks.

"Welcome to my home," Twilight answers as she presents the place.

Applejack looks around the foyer of Twilight's house. It contains some chairs, some stairs, and several doors. "So, is this really the best place to hide?" she asks.

"Well, as long as you got a lightning rod, then yes," Twilight replies.

Applejack sighs. "Well, if you say so, Twilight," she said. And then she steps into Twilight's house, going over the indoor mat.

Rarity moves the towel off of her face. "Ahem. Applejack," she said, stopping Applejack as she hovers her foot over the hardwood floor. "Would you please clean up your shoes? And take them off."

Applejack steps back into the mat as the door closes behind her. "Huh?" she blurts. "Isn't keeping yer shoes on normal when walking around in the ground floor-"

"Now!" Rarity insisted, startling Twilight.

Applejack scoffs as she rolls her eyes. "Fine," she says. Then she gets down and takes off her shoes, cleaning them in the process. Then she puts her exposed socks into the floor. "Just be sure, I'm not used to stepping on hardwood without my shoes," she told them.

Rarity looks at Twilight. "So uh, where are your parents?" she wonders.

"Parents?" Twilight asks back, looking at Rarity. "Well, my family had just gone into a party with my family's business partner," she explains why her family isn't in the house right now. "I...just couldn't go. I just don't want to leave the comfort of my own home after I transformed into something monstrous. And considering the storm, they might no be here until it dissipates." Then she sighs. "I guess I'm lonely here now."

"Aww," Rarity said as she touches Twilight's shoulder, "don't worry Twilight. At least you have us here with you. We can always-"

Suddenly, something came into Twilight's mind. She hasn't have the chase to do this last time, but with more girls in her house this time, an opportunity strikes. "Wait a second," she said, perking up. "I think I have something in my library! Wait just a moment!"

Twilight then sprinted off into her house library, looking through the books to find something. As Twilight searched through her bookshelves, Applejack talks up to Rarity as she stares into the open door where Twilight heads off to.

"What is she lookin' for?" Applejack asks.

Rarity is wondering the same thing. "No clue," she answers. "I think she wants-"

And then Twilight shows up again, this time presenting a book in front of her.

"...A...slumber party," Rarity finishes as she reads the title of the book in front of her face.

Applejack leans a bit closer to the book Twilight is holding and read out what it says. "Slumber Party 101: All You'll Ever Wanted To Know...eh, that's a mouthful," she said, stopping because the title was too long.

"My own personal copy," Twilight said, leafing through the pagers. "I always wanted to have a slumber party since I was little." Then she closees the book and holds it close to her chest. "It seems so much fun! And now's the perfect time for my very first slumber party."

"Oh! I love slumber parties!" Rarity squeals. "Pinkie just loves to host them!"

Applejack was baffled by this. "Now wait just a gosh darn minute," she said. "You wanted to turn this into a slumber party? Urg! I can't stand it. I'm out. I'm staying under the rain." Applejack then makes her way out of the house, putting her shoes back on and opening the door to a windy outdoor scene. She exits the house despite the ongoing storm and continues to stubbornly resist the wind. Then a lightning bolt strikes nearby, startling both Twilight and Rarity. Applejack is then seen storming back inside.

"On second thought..." Applejack decides.

* * *

The others are having their share of experiences staying at each other's homes.

In Sonic's house, Rainbow's parents and herself decided to pay them a visit to help them prepare the trees for the upcoming storm. Due to the storm arriving much earlier than expected, they were forced to retreat into Sonic's house and remain in there to wait out the storm.

In other words, Sonic and his parents stayed at Rainbow's house for one night, and Rainbow and her parents stayed at Sonic's house for the night. Talk about doing the same thing for each other.

Sonic looks outside a the ongoing raging storm. Meanwhile, Rainbow is sitting his bed feeling a bit grumpy that the same thing is happening to her.

"So, Rainbow," Sonic said, turning towards Rainbow. "How's it like to stay at my house after I stayed in yours?"

Rainbow lets out a sigh. "I feel like I'm right at home here," she responds.

Sonic was confused by what Rainbow meant by this. "What?" he asks.

Meanwhile, Scootaloo and her friends decided to travel to Miles' place to prepare for the upcoming storm, with Thunder supervising them.

"That came in a lot faster than the meteorologists expected," Miles said as he looks outside. "They just couldn't get close to the real value. How is everyone doing?" He turns away from his window.

Thunder looks at the huddling pre-teens, then back at Miles. "Trying their best to keep their cool, that's all," he answers.

Meanwhile, Manic was on his way to Soarin's place when the storm hit, forcing him to seek refuge in Pinkie's place. A bakery, which is near the youth center. He watches from Pinkie's bedroom window outside, watching the debris as they tumble down the street.

"Hehehe," Manic chuckles, slowly losing his grip on reality. "Look at the wind. The pieces of garbage as they tumble down the street.' He continues to laugh quite sinisterly. He looks like he didn't get enough sleep last night.

Meanwhile, Mr. Cake is with Pinkie looking into Pinkie's room watching Manic.

"Does he usually act like that?" Mr. Cake asks.

"Not usually, but sometimes," Pinkie answers. Then she whispers to him. "It's in his nature."

Mr. Cake blinked for a moment. "Oh," he realizes.

* * *

Meanwhile, Applejack is hanging out at the library trying to come up with a course of action. Then she hears something being smeared coming from the room next door.

"What is going on over there?" Applejack asks as she comes into said room to invsitigate.

When she arrives, she is quite surprised to see Rarity applying some green mud to Twilight's face as she is meditating. Also, Rarity has green mud on her face as well, and her hair is curled up.

"What in tarnation?" Applejack asks in surprise.

Rarity notices Applejack's presence and turns towards her. "Oh, hello there, Applejack," she said as she waves to Applejack with her muddy hand. "Didn't expect you to get out of that library."

Applejack walks up to the two girls. "So, wait a second," Applejack says as she pieces things together. "So I have to wash off the mud out of mah shoes, but you smeared mud all over your faces?"

"This isn't just any old mud," Rarity explains, presenting her muddy hand. "This is a special kind of mud that rejuvenates your face. It's called a mud mask."

Applejack then turns to Twilight. "What is Twilight doing?" she asks.

Rarity turns to Twilight. "She's meditating," she explains. "She's trying to remove her awful memories after she turned monstrous. Remember that?"

Applejack recalls the Columbia Games where she witnessed Twilight turning into some sort of monster that went on a rampage. "Well, it is kind of a traumatizing event," she admitted. "It does seem to warrant a removal by focusing on the-"

"Gah!" Twilight screams as she snaps out of meditated trance, startling both girls.

"What's wrong Twilight?" Applejack asks.

Twilight breathes heavily as she clings on to her chest. "Nothing wrong," she answers, trying to cover up her problems. "It's just..."

Applejack grew suspicious. "Just what?" she interrogated.

The sudden feeling of shock died down inside Twilight. "Nothing..." she sighs.

* * *

Later into the day, Applejack continues to watch outside the window as the storm continues.

Applejack groans as she watches the ran fall. "This storm just won't go away!" she yells.

"The storm will go away!" Rarity replies. "Just...wait until tomorrow."

"Urg," Applejack groans, turning towards Rarity. "I can't stand this slumber party. All this frou-frou stuff, it's making me sick. I shoulda remained in my family's house. I find it more tolerable there."

"Well, the storm arrived here much sooner than expected," Rarity said. "So, were you planning to go home when you finished knocking down the loose branches?"

"I was going to," Applejack replies. "And then the storm just went up here and caught me in the middle of doin' it." She then slumps into the window.

Rarity shrugs. "Well, you can't simply go outside," she points out. "It's too dangerous to go outside now. Remember all the loose branches that you warned? I saw them tumbling down the street." Applejack then looks down at the street, watching the debris as they tumble down the street. "It's a good thing nobody's willing to go outside at this time. And besides, you don't want to ruin Twilight's first slumber party by getting out of this place, do you?"

Applejack turns towards Rarity, only to scoff and roll her eyes.

"Now don't you go rolling your eyes in front of me," Rarity said. "I know you want to get out here and return home. You just told me that. But you must learn that it is simply not an option right now. Understand?"

Applejack grows increasingly frustrated at Rarity's high life compared to hers. She found the lifestyle not suited for her.

Then, Twilight came in holding her guide book for slumber parties. She reads the next thing on her list. "Okay, the next thing on my guidebook is..." she reads, looking through her list. Then she came across one interesting one. "Oh! Ghost stories. Everyone loves them." Then she shifts her eyes from side to side, looking worried. "Though, I'm not sure that I'm okay with telling them..."

Applejack swears that she heard something. She looks at Twilight. "What did you say, Twilight?" she asks.

Twilight snaps to look at the girls. "Oh!" she said, adjusting her glasses. "Nothing that matters to you."

"Well, if you don't want to tell ghost stories, what else should we do?" Rarity asks, looking for something else to do during that slumber party.

Twilight then got to work leafing through the pages of her book looking for something else to do besides Ghost stories. She'll have to push that thing aside for a later date. "Hmm...let's see," she said as she looks through the list. Then she came across something interesting. "Oh! This might be a good one. Let's have a some s'mores as our evening snack."

* * *

The girls then head off to the kitchen to make some s'mores. They got some marshmallows, graham crackers, and some chocolate.

"Careful..." Rarity advised as Twilight lowered the cracker into the marshmallow. "You don't want it misaligned."

"I'm trying!" Twilight said, breathing heavily. "I'm making this sandwich as neatly as possible. Misalignment just ticks me off."

Twilight continues to lower the cracker into the marshmallow very slowly.

"Lower," Rarity said, lowering her hands. "Lower. A little to your right, no wait! Correct that. Almost there!"

Twilight is sweating as she lowers the cracker to complete the sandwich. Then she places the cracker down with perfect alignment.

"Perfect," Rarity sighs in relief. Twilight sighs in relief as well.

"Phew!" Twilight said, wiping the sweat. "I was getting stressed over there."

Applejack looks at the completed s'mores on the table. "Shall we have them?" she asks.

"Sure," Twilight said. "Have a bite."

Applejack picks a s'more up and eats it whole. Then she suddenly feels discomfort in her mouth. "Oh!" she gasps, her voice muffled. "Oh for the love of-oh!"

Rarity checks on her friend. "You okay, Applejack?" she asks. "Just open your mouth. Let me take a look."

"I'm fine, Rarity," Applejack said with her mouth full, her voice stiff muffled.

Rarity frowns at her friend's behavior. "Okay, now you're just plain rude," she said.

Applejack stands up and leans closer to Rarity. "I'm not rude," she said, showing the insides of her mouth to Rarity.

Rarity averts her eyes away from Applejack as she leans onto her. "Okay, there's being rude, and there's being oblivious to your actions," she said. "Applejack, fix your problem now!"

"I told you," Applejack insisted. "I'm fine!"

"Oops," Twilight realizes. "I might've used the stick marshmallows for this. Sorry." She looks down after feeling embarrassed for making someone else's mouth feel sticky. "Just...get a drink of water. It'll wash off."

Applejack then realizes that there is something wrong with her mouth. She opens it up, only to feel great resistance. "Urg, it's so sticky in my mouth..." she complains, going to the floor.

"Oh! So now you're telling us what's wrong!" Rarity snaps. "Why didn't you do this earlier?"

Applejack groans as the sticky marshmallow begins to clot her mouth.

* * *

At the beginning of night, Twilight decided that it would be a good time to share a scary story to her visitors. She sat on her bed as she reads from her book, while the others took seats in front of her bed.

"...and they encountered the seemingly mythical Headless Horseman," Twilight said, nearing the end of her story. "It attacked their town, and the residents were never heard from again!"

Rarity was shivering, so much that she feels like clinging on to Applejack nearby. Meanwhile, Applejack is unfazed by the story, not being scared at all.

"What just happened again?" Applejack asks, confused about what had just happened.

Twilight groans at her friend. "Applejack, please," she said. "You didn't react to that story at all?"

"That legend was just that," Applejack explains. "A legend. A tale. A tale that people tell each other just to get a laugh out of each other." She then shakes her head. "I'm not laughing."

Twilight was confused by what Applejack is saying. "Why not?" she asked.

"I know it's not real," Applejack answers

Rarity gasps at her friend, letting go of her. "Applejack!" she yelled.

Twilight grew angry at the two girls. "Aww, that was the scariest story I can find," she said. hen she slams the book shut. "Well, girls. I guess it's time to call it a night for now." She sets the book on her bedside and lays down on her bed. "Guess the story I told isn't making this night a good one. And the weather outside is not helping at all. Well, thanks a lot for making this a night to remember. I'll be seeing you next morning then the storm finally clears up, okay?"

"Is it really bedtime yet?" Applejack asks as Rarity stretches and yawns besides her.

Twilight clutched in her bed. "Urg! So much for this being a slumber party," she said. "You two are not making this a good one."

Rarity then stared at Applejack with disapproval. "Well, thanks a lot Applejack," she said, feeling sleepy. "Now that Twilight has called it a day, we should be finding a place to sleep."

"Your bed is in the guest room downstairs," Twilight told them. "The other doors are currently locked. You can't access them."

Rarity then stands up. "Guess I'll be sleeping next to that dirty, tall, farm girl," she commented. Then she looks down at Applejack. "Am I right?"

Applejack responds by rolling her eyes

* * *

The two girls then head off into the guest room and had a night sleep there. Only issue is that the blanket covering the bed is thin, leaving them feeling cold due to the increment weather. Also, the bed is a bit firm, at least to Rarity. It feels like she's sleeping on a hard rock.

"This bed," Rarity said, trying to find a comfortable position to rest in. "It doesn't feel right."

Applejack looks to Rarity and rolls over to face her. "Hold on. Let me help," she said as she reaches into Rarity's side of the bed.

Rarity slaps Applejack's hand away. "Keep you dirty hands on your side of the bed," she said in disgust.

Applejack takes a look at her hands to see what's wrong. She doesn't see anything, not even in the dark lighting. "Well, they're clean now," she said. She shows her hand to Rarity. "I just washed them."

Rarity nudges herself away from Applejack, feeling uncomfortable. "Yeah," Rarity replied, "but considering how much time you've spent on that farm of yours, I'm pretty sure that your hands are still dirty."

Applejack takes a look at her hands. "No they're aren't," she said. Then she presents her hands to Rarity once more. "Look!"

Rarity leans closer to Applejack's hands and took a sniff at them. She reels back in disgust. "Eww!" she screams. "I think I see a little bit of dirt on your hands."

Applejack lowers her hands. "Really? I don't see them."

Rarity springs up from the bed and notices that the blanket has wrinkles everywhere. "Your movement is ruining this bed," she complains. "Let me make the bed again! I want the blanket to be right." She then pushes Applejack off the bed and she gets off it as well. She then pats the blanket down so that no wrinkles are visible.

Applejack grew angry at her friend. "We're never gonna have some rest if you keep on doing this," she said in response. "Now let me on!" She then gets ready to jump back on the bed.

"Uh-uh!" Rarity insisted, wagging her finger. "You'll ruin it if you get on like that. Instead, get in like this." Rarity then gets on the bed gentle, inserting herself slowly into the blanket. After resting her head on the pillow, she sighs in relief.

But Applejack is not having that. "I'm not gonna do this your way!" she shouts. Then she jumps onto the bed. "Geronimo!" She then impacts the bed.

Rarity jumped as Applejack landing, with the blanket being lifted off her. When she lands, the blanket has wrinkles again. She then angrily looks at Applejack. "Hey! You did that on purpose," she yells.

Applejack talks with her eyes closed. "What's that?" she said. "Can't hear you, 'cause I'm asleep." She then snores away the night.

Rarity grew increasingly frustrated by her friend's stubbornness. "Fix the bed right now!" she insisted as she shoves Applejack off the bed once more.

Applejack hits the ground and wakes up. She gets up infuriated about Rarity. "Hey! Quit budging," she yells as she rubs the arm that hit the floor.

"I'm not budging, Rarity said as she gets up. "I'm trying to get some rest for once."

Applejack points to Rarity. "You're not doing that just for that reason, are you?" she asks in a threatening tone.

Rarity turns away from Applejack, crossing her arms. "I did not!" she yelled.

"Did so!" Applejack accuses.

"Did not do it!" Rarity insisted.

"Yes you did!" Applejack insisted in response.

"Didn't!"

"Did!"

"Didn't!"

"Did!"

Twilight, meanwhile, tries her best to maintain her sleep, even against the background noise and the sinister voices in her head. However, the shouting from downstairs just make her unable to sleep. She gets up as a tired, miserable girl. "Urg, these voices in my head..." she groans, touching her forehead. "It's making me restless." Then she realizes what's going on. "Hey, what is going on downstairs?"

Twilight then gets off her bed to investigate the voices coming from downstairs.

Meanwhile, the argument between Applejack and Rarity continues to heat up.

"Didn't!"

"Did!"

"Didn't!"

"Did!"

"Enough!" Twilight roars as she opens the guest room door, silencing Applejack and Rarity. Twilight then walks up to them. "What are you two girls arguing for?"

"Oh. Uh, sorry, Twilight," Applejack apologizes. "We didn't mean to wake you-"

"No answers!" Twilight roars again. Then she shouts angrily at the two girls. "The point of a slumber party is to have fun together, and you two are clearly not making this fun! This is why I decided to call it a night. I'm not having fun telling stories. I'm not having fun doing activities with you. This is turning into a disaster!"

"We're...sorry for making you miserable, Twilight," Rarity apologizes.

"We didn't mean to cause you harm," Applejack added.

Twilight groans as she feels miserable about the night. "Is there anything that can get worse than this?" she asks.

Suddenly, the sound of some glass breaking reverberated across the entire house, causing the girls to jump.

"What was that noise?" Twilight asks, worried about what had just happened.

The girls then got into a frantic search as they try to figure out what broke.

* * *

The girls looked through the house but found that they cannot investigate inside due to the locked doors. Then they enter Twilight's bedroom, the only one which is unlocked. Inside, they found that a tree branched had smashed through the window above Twilight's bed, creating a mess of shattered glass on the floor and bed.

"Oh no," Twilight hollered upon seeing her ruined room. "My bedroom!" She collapsed to her knees.

Applejack growled at Rarity, blaming her for not preventing this mess. "See?" she said. "This is why taking down those loose tree branches is important. It's to keep loose branches from flying around and crashing into buildings! But instead of helping, you decided to waste time pruning the bushes into shapes."

"But I was just-" Rarity tried to defend herself.

"No buts!" Applejack insisted. "We just need to get this tree branch out of there!"

Rarity looked at the broken window, watching the wind coming in and the rain pouring into Twilight's room. "But, what about the rain?" she asks, concerned about the integrity of Twilight's room. "Or Twilight's room? Or-"

"We can just repair the damages later," Applejack said. "Removing this branch is our number one priority." Then she looks out the window at the branch. "I'm getting out there even if it means getting drenched. Come on, Rarity! Let's get out!" Then she opens the door and exits Twilight's room.

Rarity feels uncomfortable going out to the downpour. "But-" she said, trying to excuse herself not to go out.

"No excuse," Applejack insisted. "Just get out there and help me! Twilight! You stay here and help us push this thing out!"

Rarity scoffs. "Fine," she said. "I'll do it if it means helping out a friend." Then she exits the room.

This leave Twilight to push the branch out of her room. She looks at the shards of glass on her bed, wondering what she should do with them. Then she looks to find a glove to sweep off the glass shards off her bed, just to she can remove the tree branch that's stuck in her house.

* * *

Applejack makes her way towards the tree branch, while Rarity follows behind her, taking careful steps to avoid the mud on the ground. "Urg! All this mud," she said in disgust. "It's getting into my shoes!" Her clothing is also wet, but this is not her priority now.

Applejack looks at the tree branch and pulls out her rope as usual. She throws one end of the rope towards the branch, letting it wrap around the branch creating a strong grip. Once a grip is firmly established, Applejack pulls back hard on the branch. Meanwhile, Twilight is helping Applejack out by pushing the branch out of her room. She gets on her bed with the shards sweep off and puts out all of her force into helping her friend.

Applejack then turns towards Rarity who is looking around inspecting her wet clothing. "Hang in there, Rarity!" she said. "Now help me out!"

Rarity treads across the mud, going up to Applejack. "By touching your dirty, wet clothes?"

Applejack leers at Rarity. "You're germophobic, are you?" she asks. "Well, throw your fear of germs away this time. You can wash them off later, you know?"

Rarity scoffs. "Fine," she decided. "But just remember that its going to look awkward when I do this."

Rarity then comes behind Applejack and grabs her by the abdomen.

"Alright!" Applejack said. "Let's do this!"

Applejack and Rarity pulled hard on the rope to pull it down.

"Heave! Ho!" Applejack said, pulling on her rope. "Heave! Ho!"

The tree branch moves slightly out of Twilight's room.

"It's working!" Twilight observes. Then she shouts to the girls below. "Keep going!"

Applejack continues to grunt as she and Rarity continue to pull on the branch. "Heave! Ho! Heave! Ho!"

With each pull, the branch moves further and further out of the house.

Rarity and Applejack step backwards as they continue to pull on the branch. Then, Rarity's foot steps over a pit in the backyard, and she falls down. "Ahh!" she shrieked.

Applejack looks behind her to Rarity. "You okay?"

Rarity got back up, rubbing her bottom. "I'm fine," she replied. "Just stepped over a pit."

Applejack sighs in relief that her friend is still fine. Rarity then grabs Applejack's abdomen, getting ready to pull. "One more time!" Applejack announces. "We've almost got this!"

They then tug on the branch one final time, until it's over the tipping point.

"Heave! Ho! Heave! Ho!"

The pull and push was enough to nudge the branch over the tipping point. It fell down out of the window and crashes down into the mud.

Twilight wipes the sweat out her face. "Phew!" she said. "At least that loose branch is out of my house. Though there is still some glass shards everywhere..."

Applejack is satisfied with how well that went. "Alright! This mission is a success!" she announces.

Rarity looked at her muddy clothes as she continues to stand outside. "I feel so dirty just standing out here," she commented.

"That's okay," Twilight said. "I've got some towels you can use to dry yourself. Come on in, girls. We have a night to sleep away."

Applejack and Rarity then entered Twilight's house to sleep the stormy night away.

* * *

The next morning, Twilight and her friends wake up to a sunny, clear weather. There might be puddles everywhere, but at least the storm is over.

The two girls prepare to leave Twilight's home with the destination being their own home.

"You two may bicker like some old married couple who still have issues to resolve," Twilight said about Applejack and Rarity, "but man, I did not know how much you actually care for each other."

Applejack then laughed a little. "We may be friends, but that doesn't excuse us from arguments like these," she admitted.

"I must say. That was a crazy night that we had," Rarity commented. "There was this storm, and all this bickering between me and Applejack, really. What more can you say about this slumber party?"

"I don't think I have anything else to say," Twilight replied. :Well, at least the storm has subsided, so now it's time for you to come home."

The girls then put on their causal clothes and head out towards the front door.

"I can't wait to tell my siblings about the time I stayed at a new friend's house," Applejack said.

Rarity giggled. "Me too," she said. Then they opened the front door, only to see that the street is covered in branches. This causes Rarity to gasp. "Oh. Oh my, what a mess that this street is in.

Twilight poked her head out the doors on the second floor, and sees the mess that the street is in. "Guess that storm was a bit more crazy than I thought," she said.

"Also, did we miss that many loose branches? I swear we've only missed a few because the storm came here a little early." Then she sighs, seeing the workday ahead of her. "Well, this'll take a while to clean up. What do you say, Rarity?" Rarity did not respond. "Rarity? What are you doing?"

Inside Rarity's head as she looks at the branches, inspiration struck. "I have an idea in my head," she said.

Applejack looked at Rarity for a moment. "What?" she asks.

Winking, Rarity pulled out some garden shears that she brought from her home. "Whose ready for some pruning?" she said in a singing tone.

 **[End of Episode]**

* * *

 **From the Author:**

This is what you get if you take "Look Before You Sleep" and made the characters involved not act like children. And changed the lesson at the end. Rather than go with the lesson that two people can get along despite being different, I go with this. Just because you're friends doesn't mean that you're not allowed to argue. Or that two friends may argue a lot, but they'll help each other out despite the heated relationship.

For those of you who are coming from "Camping Night at the Wilderness" episode from Gemranger, this is why Applejack halts the story about the Headless Horseman. Apparently, she doesn't want to hear the same story twice that doesn't make her shake.

We're at the third-quarter mark when it comes to this series. Yes, that means that this season is only twenty episodes long. This also means that Gemranger will be continuing shortly. Oh, and it's almost one year since I began this project. I have something special for you guys for the first year anniversary of this series. Stay tuned for that!

* * *

Written by TheAPPstore

Sonic the Hedgehog characters property of Sega

My Little Pony characters property of Hasbro


	16. Seaside Lounge

**Episode 16**

 **"Seaside Lounge"**

* * *

The weather is looking good for a day of a break. Team Sonic and The Rainbooms took this opportunity to take a trip to the beach. Despite the fact that Sonic doesn't really know how to swim.

When Sonic's inept abilities in water come to light, he gets harassed by some of the beachgoers for being unable to swim. The friends suggest that Sonic takes a course in swimming, but Rainbow insists that she'll defend Sonic's honor by challenging the bullies to a race.

Can Sonic stand up for himself for being afraid of water?

Partially based on the episode from Sonic Boom, "I Can Sea Sonic's Fear From Here" {S2 EP7}

* * *

 **[Beginning of Episode]**

After the storm ended, it gave way to a nice, sunny, warm weather ideal for summer. To take advantage of this, the team decided to go out into the beach to relax.

But they're not going into separate beaches. As allies, the two teams will be meeting at a single beach to hang out with each other. The Rainbooms will be taking the honor of traveling there via train to where Team Sonic is. Their destination? The famous Emerald Beach looking over Emerald Sound.

The swimsuits have been packed and Rainbow and her friends are on their way down south to meet up with their friends over there.

"I can't wait to go for a swim with Sonic!" Rainbow squeals, unable to stay still on her seat. "It's such a nice day to go out for a swim at the beach."

Applejack looks outside, looking at the sunny sky. "Yeah," she agrees. "After that storm came in and made a mess of things, it left behind this sunny weather in a few days."

"Good thing that the storm is over," Rarity said, polishing herself. "It's such a nice day to sit back and relax. I didn't pack in my swimsuit, sorry. I wasn't planning to go for a swim."

Applejack chuckles. "Well, that's okay," she said, resting her arm on Rarity's shoulder. "You don't want to get that beautiful hair of yours wet, now do you?"

"Not after I got myself drenched in that storm!" Rarity yelled, startling everyone.

Rainbow stared and blinked at Rarity for a moment. "Whatever," she said, snapping back. "I'm planning to go for a swim with Sonic and his pals. Nice day to work out in the water, eh? Who's with me?"

"Me!" Pinkie jumped as she raised her hand. "I want to swim!"

Applejack shook her head. "Not today, thanks," she said. "I'm planning to try out wakeboarding, a pretty interesting. I'm still need mah swimsuit, however."

"I want to see the aquatic life," Fluttershy said, planning to go diving.

The train arrives at their destination. The team gets off the train with the destination of Emerald Beach. Their friends over here are waiting for them.

"Well, no matter the water sport," Rainbow said, looking out and enjoying the cityscape, "I'm sure that we'll have fun out there with our friends. Come on! Our Emerald City friends are waiting for us over there!"

The Rainbooms then made a run for it towards Emerald Beach.

* * *

The team enters the beautiful Emerald Beach, with skyscrapers lining the beachside. Rainbow and her friends took their first steps onto the sands of the beach, admiring the scenery. There are a lot of visitors at the beach today, doing all sorts of activity. From volleyball to whale watching, there is no shortage of activity in the beach.

"So, this is the lovely Emerald Beach," Rainbow said as she looks around. "It feels so nice in here. Almost like a tropical city resort."

The way the beach is laid out makes it look like one of those cities at the tropics which have beautiful beach fronts. Though this time, they're in the middle latitudes instead of in the tropic.

Thunder then hears some instinctive shouting coming from somewhere. He looks around and finds Sonic being chased by Amy with her hammer yet again. Also, Espio is chasing Amy as well. The tree of them run around in circles in the sands.

"Umm...what's going on over there?" Thunder asks bringing attention to Sonic and his friends as the chase continues.

The girls had their eyes widen upon seeing what's going on.

"How dare you look at another girl!" Amy yelled as she slams her hammer down in the sands, nearly missing Sonic.

"Gah!" Sonic shrieked as he gets close to being hit. "Amy! I just looked at her briefly!"

"You didn't develop a crush on her, did you?" Amy asks threateningly.

"No!" Sonic shouts back. "I did not! She just happened to cross my view!"

As the chase continues, Rainbow and her friends approached the other members of Team Sonic, this time in their swimsuits.

"What's going on over there?" Rainbow asks.

The rest of the boys then turned their attention to their friends from up north.

"Oh, thank goodness that you came," Miles sighed in relief.

"Amy is acting like her usual jealous self and started to attack Sonic simply because a girl his age happened to cross his view," Knuckles explains.

Rainbow growled again upon seeing this situation. "This again," she groans. "I really hope Zephyr isn't here."

"Yeah," Fluttershy agrees. "I don't want to see my awful brother around here."

Meanwhile, Espio just keeps on shouting at Amy. "Hey! Calm down, lady," he insisted. "You can't just start attacking beachgoers all of a sudden."

Amy slams her hammer down once again, early hitting Sonic in the head. "I just caught him seeing another girl!" she explains.

"Does that warrant an attack?" Espio yells. "Calm down! Pull yourself together!"

The rest of the team continues to watch as the chase goes on.

"Wow," Applejack sighs. "That friend of Sonic's needs to chill hard."

Knuckles then looks at his friends from Canterlot City, only to find that they are still in their normal clothes. "Hey! What are you people doing in your casual clothes?" he yells. "Did you even pack some swimsuits for once?"

Rainbow patted on the bag that she brought along for the visit. "Got them in my bag," she said.

"Me too," Fluttershy said, implying that she stuffed her swimsuit in Rainbow's bag.

"Me three!" Pinkie jumped in again.

"We all brought swimsuit," Applejack said, relieving the pressure off her friends. "Except for Rarity..."

Silver then walked up to Rarity. "So, Rarity," he began. "Who are you planning to relax with?"

Rarity put up a flirty look at Silver. "I plan to relax with my lovely darlings," she answers.

"Who are you referring to?" Thunder asks.

"Oh, you know..." Rarity said, looking at Thunder and Silver. This causes the two boys to look at each other.

"Get to the changing rooms," Knuckles ordered, pointing to a building nearby. "They're right over there."

"Alright. Thanks," Rainbow replied as she nodded. "Come on, everyone. Let's get changing."

Soon, everyone was in their swimsuits. Except for Rarity, who couldn't be bothered to bring some in.

* * *

After the chase stopped, Sonic talked to the tired Amy, warning her not to do that again to him.

"Amy, you really need to chill," Sonic said, backing out. "You can't just start attacking me whenever I'm near some random girl. Or...Rainbow for that matter." He feels awkward when he mentions Rainbow, as his relationship with her has been ambiguously romantic given how much they interacted.

Amy pants and looks up to Sonic. "And why is that?" she asks, her voice still holding that angry tone. "Is it because you really go around?"

Then Applejack steps in, this time wearing her swimsuit. "You know, Sonic's not the type of person to...you know...have a bunch of partners?" she said.

Sonic and his friends look at Rainbow's friends, only to find that nearly all of them are in their swimsuits.

"What?" Amy asks, wondering what Applejack meant.

"It's true," Sonic said to Amy. "I'm not a ladies person. I get uncomfortable whenever somebody tries to flirt with me."

Amy then looked at Rainbow and thought about her relationship with Sonic. "What about Rainbow?" she asks.

Sonic looks back at Rainbow, seeing her pointing to herself in the confusion. Then he turns his head back towards Amy. "She's an exception," he replied, pointing towards Rainbow. "Our interests happen to line up. Opposites attract? What are us humans? Magnets? Don't be silly. Two people having traits that they can relate to? I sense a relationship brewing."

"Oh, so you are a ladies person after all," Amy said, misinterpreting Sonic's message.

"Now, now," Applejack said. "Don't take his word that way. That's not what he meant"

Rainbow then stepped up to Sonic. "So, Sonic," she began. "Interred in some-"

Rainbow was interrupted when she hears Amy growl at her. Then Amy got her mouth covered by Applejack.

"Now, now," Applejack told Amy as she starts to drag her away from Rainbow. "Don't go all growling at Rainbow. Just leave the two alone and we'll be fine, alright?"

"But-" Amy tried to speak behind Applejack's hand.

"Amy, hand me your hammer," Espio ordered, offering his hand. "We don't want civilians to get hurt by your...aggressive actions." Then he looks back at his teammates. "Especially our allies and friends."

The team watched as Amy gets dragged away towards someplace that is hopefully away from all the beachgoers. Sonic then turns towards Rainbow.

"Glad that you could make it here," Sonic said to Rainbow. "I was getting worried when Amy started to chase me down for looking at a girl."

"I can see that," Rainbow said. "Hey, mind if we would go out for a swim?"

The rest of Team Sonic, including Sonic himself, reel back in shock upon hearing what Rainbow had just said. Rainbow's friends, on the other hand, look at their Emerald City friends wondering what's the deal.

"What did you just say?" Sonic asks.

Rainbow was confused by Sonic and his team's reaction. "I said, why don't we go out for a swim?" she asks. "The water is nice today. How about we jump have a jump in?"

Sonic gazes towards his friends, asking them to help them out. They did not speak up, forcing him to explain what's the deal with his reaction for an offer to go swimming.

"No, no," Sonic said, his voice shaking from fear. "I don't think that's a good-"

"Hey, no need to worry, Rainbow reassures, wrapping her arm around Sonic's neck. "It's not like there are some sharks swimming around in this bay." Then she realizes that she's in a temperate beach and not a tropical beach and so corrects herself with the native animals that live there. "Or orca whales."

Sonic shook his head very rapidly. "That's not what I meant Rainbow," he said, his voice stuttering.

Rainbow leans a little closer to Sonic. "Why are you so nervous?" she asks, observing his fine, but rapid movements

Sonic tried to answer, but his voice got increasingly stuttering. "It's..." he tried to spit out. "It's..." He later find himself unable to answer, possibly out of fear of disappointing his ally.

Rainbow then had enough of Sonic's inability to answer and declared that it was time to so swimming. "Well, it doesn't matter," she declared. Then she walked towards the boats. "Come on, Sonic! Time to get out into the water!"

"But...Rainbow-" Sonic tried to say, but found himself being interrupted by Rainbow.

"Cheer up, blue boy," Rainbow said, running up to Sonic. Then she grabs his hand and takes him towards the boats. "There's nothing to fear in the water!"

Sonic remined silent as he is taken towards the boat. The other friends looked at each other for a moment before deciding to come with them as well.

* * *

The boat traveled not to far from shore, only a few hundred meters. The waters should be around a few meters deep. The calm waters rocked the boat as it passes by it, but even with the subtle tilts, Sonic still gets seasick.

Sonic leans over the boat looking into the water. A feeling of nausea builds up inside him. "I don't know about this, Rainbow," he said, looking towards Rainbow. "I'm feeling a little...sick..."

Rainbow and her friends who were on the boat were confused about how Sonic managed to get seasick.

"Did you have a snack before hopping on this rocking boat?" Fluttershy asks.

Sonic shook his head in response. "No," he replies. Then he looks back at the water, still feeling dizzy. "It's just..."

Miles had enough of Sonic's inability to speak up and told Rainbow what's going on. "Umm, Rainbow," he said, catching her attention. "I don't think that Sonic likes being in water."

Rainbow got confused when she heard that Sonic fears water. "What do you mean?" she asks.

Miles then told the truth, feeling unsure about how it'll go. "He...can't swim," he admitted.

"Huh?" Rainbow's friends said in confusion upon hearing this. Sonic, afraid of water? What in the world is that, they thought.

Sonic's arms are now shaking at this point. He cannot tolerate this anymore. "I don't think this is safe for me," he said. "I want to get out of here!"

Rainbow then grew angry at Sonic's refusal to get into water. "Nonsense!" she shouted, stomping her foot. "I insist that you go in the water now!" She then takes Sonic's legs and lifted him over the edge.

"Whoa!" Sonic screams as he splashes down into the water, disappearing below the surface.

Almost immediately, Sonic's friends groan in anger over Rainbow's action.

"Rainbow!" Miles yelled, berating his ally. "What did you do?!"

"He's an athlete," Rainbow chuckled, trying to assure everyone that Sonic is fine. "I'm sure that he'll swim his way out of there."

Miles growled at Rainbow for not seeing the issue that's shown right in front of her face. "No!" he yells. Then he points to the spot in the water where Sonic was last seen before being engulfed by the water. "Look in the water. Did you see him?"

Everyone in the boat then looked over the edge, wondering when Sonic will rise up again. He didn't emerge, aside from a few air bubbles coming from where he splashed down.

That's when Rainbow realized something. To her horror, she has ignore Sonic and his friends' warning about how Sonic is unable to swim, and now he's at the seafloor unable to get back to the surface. "He's not rising?" Rainbow gasps, realizing her mistake just now. "Oh no, that can't be a good sign!" Rainbow then knew exactly what to do to save her friend from drowning. She has to dive down there and take Sonic back up to the surface.

Before she could jump, Knuckles tapped on her shoulder.

"Hang on!" Knuckles said. Then he offers her a mouthpiece for helping divers breathe. "Use this! It'll help you breathe-"

Rainbow turned down the offer. "No need to that," she said. "I'll just rescue him without any assistance! Hang on, Sonic! I'm coming!" Then she jumps from the boat into the water, where she last saw Sonic before he disappeared.

"Rainbow!" Rainbow's friends shouted as they reached for her.

For a moment, only bubbles were seen on the surface of the water. Shortly after, Rainbow emerges from the bottom, carrying Sonic. She grabs the edge of the boat as Sonic coughs out water.

"Calm down, Sonic!" Rainbow said, patting her friend. "I got you!"

Sonic breathed heavily as he nears death by drowning. "Get...me...to...shore!" he begged, severely shaken up from being underwater with no water of getting back up.

Rainbow gets Sonic's cries for help. "Take him to land," she commends. "He needs to calm down!"

Knuckles grabs the controls and nodded. "Roger that!" he said.

"Sonic that?" Pinkie asks, which gave weird looks from the rest of her friends. "What?" she asks.

Shortly after Rainbow lifted Sonic back onto the boat, Knuckles floored it and drove the boat back onto the beach. That's it for off shore swimming for now.

* * *

After arriving on shore, Applejack ran up to them wondering what the hay is going on over there. Knuckles explained that Rainbow was taking Sonic out for a swim, and when he refuses, she straight up shoved Sonic into the water, only to realize that she's about to drown him and dives down there to rescue him. Applejack did not take this lightly.

"What was that?" Applejack yelled at Rainbow for nearly drowning a friend, then had to clean up the mess that she created.

Rainbow felt embarrassed for doing such a thing to a close friend. "I'm sorry," she apologizes. "I thought that Sonic can swim because he's an athlete."

"I can't," Sonic admitted. "I'm terrified of being in the water!"

Applejack did not catch what Sonic said. "Huh?" she asks.

"If I ever get in the water, I would sink to the bottom like I'm sort of cobalt filled rock," Sonic explains.

Rainbow then turned to Sonic. "You didn't tell me-" she began to say.

"I tried to warn you," Sonic yelled, "but I was too afraid to speak up!"

"And why?" Rainbow asks.

Sonic tried to say something, but couldn't find the words, or the courage to say anything. Nearly drowning has certainly taken his cool away.

Rainbow then decided that it would be a great time to apologize to her friend. "Okay, I'm sorry for pushing you into the water without knowing that you can't swim!" she said.

This does not help Sonic any further, much to the frustration of his friends.

"Hey look!" someone shouted form afar. "That boyfriend of Rainbow is afraid of the water!"

The team looked towards the source of the voices, only to find a trio of much larger teens.

"Who's that?" Knuckles asks, pointing towards the trio.

Rainbow groans upon realizing who they are. Her bullies. "Urg...Hoops..." she answered. "And his cronies..."

Hoops and his friends walk up to Rainbow and beings to mock her, much to the chagrin of all of her friends, especially Miles, Sonic, and Fluttershy.

"Well, well, well," Hoops said, walking up to the team. "How ironic. The famous blue boy can't be bothered to take a step into the sea."

Sonic grew frustrated and yelled at them. "It's not ironic!" he yells. "It'll be ironic if I can't keep my footing despite being a professional runner!"

"You're as blue as the sea, blue boy," one of Hoops' friends added. "And yet you refuse to go into that because you can't swim."

"Hey! Knock it off!" Rainbow roared. "You're hurting Sonic!"

"That's his name?" Hoops asks. Then he and his friends look around the beach. "Where's the rest of your sensory squad, Rainbow Crash?"

Rainbow can't tolerate Hoops and his pals being in front of her mocking her team for much longer. "I can't stand them doing this to me," she grumbles. "I'm reaching my limit."

Fluttershy leans into Rainbow's place. "What should we do?"

Suddenly, memories of Rainbow racing against them come back to her. She remembers racing them back when she was young whenever Hoops made fun at the expense of Fluttershy. If it works for her...yes. "I'll tell them," she said, making her plan.

"Hey! Bullies!" Rainbow shouted at Hoops. "Why don't you pick on someone your own size?"

Hoops and his pals then burst into laughter. "Like who?" Hoops said. "You?"

"Urg…" Rainbow groans. The first part of her plan is not working.

"Anything else?" Fluttershy asks.

Time to fall back into the second plan. "Hey! Hoops!" Rainbow shouts again. "Guess what? I'm challenging you to a race to defend Sonic's honor!"

The declaration of a race came as a surprise to Hoops and his pals.

"Ooh!" one of Hoops pals said, getting interested. "Little girl is standing up for her boy of desires!"

Sonic then speaks up to Rainbow. "You really don't need to do that because-"

Rainbow slaps Sonic away, knowing that the upcoming race must involve water. "You're afraid of water, so stay out of this," she said. "Let me handle this." She then takes a step forward towards Hoops. "So, how shall we race today?"

Hoops looks around and found something that catches his eyes. Water skis, of course. "How about we ride on some personal water skis as our race?" he said, pointing towards the water skis sitting by the dock.

Rainbow turn towards the dock, aiming her eyes towards the water skis. Then she turns back to Hoops with a confident smile on her face. "Deal," she said, declaring that the race would be held.

* * *

The preparations for the race begins and Rainbow has rested out a water ski to participate in the race she's about to find herself in. Out in the distance, Hoops and his friends are waiting for her over there.

Meanwhile, Rarity is standing nearby, watching Rainbow as she puts on safety gear. "Darling, are you sure that this is a good idea?" she asks.

Rainbow gets a helmet, knee and elbow pads, and a water vest just in case she fell during the race. After she's done putting on all the safety gear, she turns to Rarity. "If it works for Fluttershy, then it must work for Sonic," Rainbow explains her actions. "I must show these bullies that if they mess with one of my friends, they mess with me, even if those friends come from someplace else."

Fluttershy pulls on her strands of hair. "But, he is different from me," she said. "I'm timid and not very confident. Sonic's courageous and confident, just like you."

Rainbow looks behind her towards Sonic. He is sitting in a chair watching the race go on. She can see him shaking from this distance, signaling that he has not gained back his cool. "He's not confident now that he's almost drowned," Rainbow observed.

"What does that mean?" Rarity asks.

"It means that Sonic's lost his cool," Rainbow explains. "He has become a bit more nervous now that he got very close to...you know."

"Oh..." Rarity understands Rainbow's decisions.

Rainbow grips on the handlebars, ready to go out. "I'm going to the start line," she told them. "I can see the bullies waiting for me over there, and I can hear them mocking me at the same time. This might be uncomfortable, but it'll be worth it when I win." Then then activates the motor and drives off towards the bullies.

"Good luck!" Rarity blessed as she and Fluttershy waved at Rainbow.

Meanwhile, Sonic is feeling nervous as Twilight, in her swimsuit, walks up to him. "She's standing up to you?" she said, having heard the news. Then she kneels down next to him. "Sonic, what happened to you? What made you lose your cool? Did you get close to drowning in that water?"

Sonic turns his head away from Twilight. "It's not just that," he answers. "I'm...angry at Rainbow for shoving me into the water without knowing that I can't swim. If only anyone close to us has told her that earlier, then we could've avoided this entire situation."

Twilight then looks at the water and notices that people are gathering to watch the race that's about to happen. "Oh. And there she goes, ready to begin her race," she observes.

Sonic curls up as he watches the race. "I don't know who to root for at this point..." he said, being indecisive on who he wants to win more.

As Rainbow, Hoops, and the rest of her bullies line up a the start, Hoops said one last thing to Rainbow.

"You're going down, Rainbow Crash!" Hoops shouted at Rainbow in an attempt to demoralize her.

Rainbow pondered as she looks back at her memories. "Now, what was it did I say to you when I defended Fluttershy?" she asks. Then it hit her. "Oh yeah! In history! Let me show you once more that if you mess with my friends, you mess with me. No exceptions. And you're going to regret it!"

* * *

The race begins with the four racers flooring it with their engines and speeding off further down the race course. As the race course takes place over water, there is no overlap. The course is a simple loop with nothing more than a few turns. Scattered throughout the course are some ramps which could be used to gain speed and altitude, as well as excite the spectators.

Rainbow pulls ahead in first place at the beginning of the race, but then gets taken over by Hoops shortly after the first major turn. Rainbow is then flanked by two of Hoops subordinates, trapping Rainbow between them.

At the end of the second major turn, Rainbow overtakes Hoops after turning a bit early to get as close to the inner edge of the course as possible. She passes the lap line in first place, with Hoops and the others not far behind. There are several more laps remaining, so it's still anyone's game at this point.

As the race continues, Sonic is amazed by how Rainbow handles the water ski. "Wow," he says in awe. "She's one fast learner."

"She tried out using the water ski sometime last summer," Applejack said, much to the disappointment of Sonic and his friends who are enjoying the race. "After a bit of training from her father mentor, she eventually got a good grip on the basics of using this water vehicle."

"Oh," Sonic realizes after hearing that. Guess Rainbow already has the grips on water skis. Then something else came into his mind. "By the way, how's Amy doing?"

"She's getting some anger management treatment to prevent her from attacking Rainbow," Knuckles said. "I think you know why she's angry."

"Oh yeah," Sonic remembered in a deep, grumpy tone. "Rainbow almost drowned me. I can see why Amy's angry." Then something caught the edge of his vision. he gets up from his seat, looking at two dudes who are running towards the docks: A green one and a red one. Both of which are unfamiliar to Sonic. "Wait, what are you two doing?" he asks, wondering what they're up to.

The green guy stopped and glares at Sonic. "Crashing the race, that's what!" he said before continuing onto the docks.

Knuckles reached out to both of them. "Wait, who are you?" he asks.

They two boys did not respond as they steal a pair of water skis and head off towards the race.

"Hey!" Applejack yells as she runs up to them. "Get back here you varmints!" Then she watches where they're going, and notices that they're tailing on Rainbow. "Uh-oh. They're heading for Rainbow!"

Sonic got up from his seat, ignoring the internal quake in his legs. "Oh no..." he mutters.

The troublemakers caught up with Hoops and shoves him to the side. "Stand back," the red one said. "Let us deal with that lady."

Hoops grew angry at them for crashing the race. "Hey!" he yells. "What are you doing in the middle of our race?"

The green one points to Rainbow, who is ahead of Hoops. "Ruining that girl's day, of course," he answers. "You want that, don't you?"

"Why yes of course," Hoops answers.

The green one happily agrees to help Hoops out. "Okay! Here's the plan," he said. "We'll knock her off of her water ski and left her to drown out there. That boyfriend of hers cannot swim. Let's see him try to get her!"

Hoops and his pals grin to the plan. "Right!" he agrees. "Let's do this!"

Rainbow then hears something coming from behind her. "Huh?" she said, turning around. "What did I just hear?" Then she realizes that she's got two additional problems. "What the-?"

The red one pointed towards Rainbow. "Get her!" he commends.

Rainbow suddenly found herself being assaulted by five jet skis at once. Three of them surrounds her, ensuring that she does not escape. Then, Hoops and the green one attacked Rainbow, attempting to take off her water vest and other safety gear, as well as make her lose her grip on her water ski.

"Hey!" Rainbow yells as she attempts to kick them away. "Stop attacking me! Get away right now!"

The friends watch in horror as Rainbow goes around the waters in an attempt to get these bullies off her.

"This doesn't look good!" Applejack yells.

"At this rate, she'll fall off into the water!" Miles added.

Knuckles looked around, trying to find that boat salesman from earlier. "Hey! I need another boat rental right now!" he calls out. "I have someone to rescue."

"Quickly!" Twilight then yells to everyone. "Find a way to recue Rainbow and fast!"

In the ensuing panic, Sonic watches as his friend gets attacked. A thought then went through his head.

"If she helps me out when I'm in danger," he said, recalling that moment where he almost drowned and Rainbow had to bail him out, "then it's my turn to return the favor!"

Sonic then goes off into the docks in search of a unoccupied water ski.

Twilight then catches Sonic in the middle of finding a jet ski to rent out. "Whoa! Sonic!" she calls out. "What are you doing?"

Sonic grabs the handles of the water ski and looks out into the water as Rainbow continues to get attackd.

"Let go of my arms, you pests on water!" Rainbow yelled, attempting to pull her arm from their grasp.

Hoops let out a sinister grin. "I'll be willing to do that if it means winning the race!" he said. Then a sinister chuckles went out of his mouth, as well as the mouth of thegreen troublemaker.

"Help!" Rainbow cries as she continues to get assaulted.

Sonic knew that he had to rescue his friend from danger, and this water ski is his only way of doing it. It's the last one left in the dock. While everyone is panicking trying to find a way to rescue Rainbow practically, Sonic looks at Rainbow as she continues to get attacked. She passes by him one final time, blowing wind on his face.

Sonic looks down on the water, his legs shaking from anxiety. "Okay, Sonic," he says to himself, breathing heavily. "This is your job. You goal is to save Rainbow from those bullies. And to do that, you'll have to get into the water."

Rainbow's right arm gets yanked off of the handlebars, leaving Rainbow to be dragged as she hangs on by one arm.

"Yeah!" the green one cheers. We've got one arm. Time to get the other!" He then leans on Rainbow. "And don't think you can lift your arm up again."

Rainbow gulped upon seeing the eyes of the green one.

The rest of Sonic's friend caught wind of what Sonic is trying to do and gets to the dock to yell at him.

"Sonic!" Miles shouted. "Get away from the water! You can't swim!" There was no response coming from Sonic. He is very shaky on his legs right now. "Sonic...is there something wrong?"

Sonic shuts his eyes as he grips on the handlebars harder. As he does that, he mutters the same phrase repeatedly. "I'm not your pray...I'm not your pray..."

Hoops was trying to get Rainbow to let go, but she doesn't budge. "Persistent girl!" he yells. "When will you give up?"

A tear went down Rainbow's eyes as she is determined to remain afloat. She grips on her handlebars even harder.

Twilight steps in front of Miles upon realizing what's going on. "Hold on," she said, fencing the others. "Is he doing what I think he's doing?"

"I'm not your pray," Sonic muttered. "I'm not your pray." With each repetition, his confidence increases. Until...

"I am not. Your. Pray!

Whoa!"

Sonic opens his eyes suddenly and hops aboard his water ski. He activates the motors and speeds off in Rainbow's direction, determined to rescue her from the assault sh's going through.

"What the-?" Miles gasped as he saw his friend speed off into the water.

"Did he just get onto the water?" Fluttershy asks.

* * *

Sonic catches up with the harassers as they continue to attack Rainbow. The other three attempted to come in, trying to help out.

"Hey!" he yells to them. "Hands off!"

Hoops stopped and looked behind him. "What?" he gasp in surprise.

"Is that the boy who can't swim?" the green one asks.

Rainbow was surprised when she saw him there, about to rescue her. "Sonic?" she asks.

"Hang in there a little longer, Rainbow!" Sonic told his friend. "I'm coming!" He then speeds right up to the harassers. The others tried to block his path.

Sonic grew determined as the bullies block his path. Then he grabs one of them by the shoulder. "Here," he said, "Have a taste of how I feel when I'm in water." He then shoves the bully into the water, leaving him behind to float far away from shore.

"Hey!" Hoops yells.

The red one punched his handlebar upon seeing one of the trappers falling into the water. "Rats!" he yells. "He's getting closer!"

Sonic then bunted Hoops ahead, making hom right next to Rainbow. "You okay, Rainbow?" he asks. Then he reaches down and helps Rainbow get back up.

"I'm fine," Rainbow answers. "Thanks for the help, Sonic."

"This isn't over yet!" the green one growled. Then he reaches out and grabs one of Rainbow's arms.

Rainbow tried to yank her arm out of the green one's grip. "Hey!" she shouted. "Hands off my arms you filthy collection of parts!" She then frees her own arm. "Now, watch what I can do!" She then kicks forward and shoves the green one into the water, leaving him behind.

Rainbow then looks at the other bullies. "So, who's next?" she asks.

The harassers don't want to have the same fate as their allies, so they bail out of the race altogether, leaving Sonic and Rainbow there riding in the water.

"All of them are out," Rainbow said. "Let's head back to shore."

Sonic then looks back at Rainbow, knowing that something is missing. "But what about your race?" he asks.

"Forget the race," Rainbow told Sonic. "That is ruined by these two coming in and trying to knock me out. Now get going!"

Sonic and Rainbow then head out into the docks.

* * *

The others gathered up around Sonic as they are baffle over how Sonic managed to overcome his fear of water.

"Sonic, what were you thinking?" Applejack asks, wondering what's going on. "I thought that you are afraid of the water."

Sonic took off his water helmet. "I didn't say that," he answers. "I said that I was terrified of being in water. I never said that I never tried water sports and enjoyed them. At least, the underwater ones."

"So, are you saying that you can swim?" Pinkie asks.

Manic slapped Pinkie in the back. "Silly!" he said. "Just because he can't swim doesn't mean that he's afraid of getting in the water. He sometimes take other water sports as an alternative."

Several of the team members then had a chuckle.

"So you saved me, Sonic," Rainbow said to Sonic. "You returned the favor to me when you saw that I was in trouble. I rescued you from underwater trouble, you saved me from surface water trouble."

Sonic smiles at his friend. "I'll tell you," he said. "No matter what friend is in trouble out there, I'll jump into save them. And I'm pretty sure that you'll so the same as far as I'm concerned."

Twilight giggled as she learned more about her new friends. "Guess I learned a lot from being around you," she told everyone. "Just because someone is bad at one thing, doesn't mean that they're bad at anything related. If you're not good at swimming, that doesn't excuse you from trying out other water sports such as wakeboarding."

That reminds Applejack. "Speakin' of which, I'm planning to do some wakeboarding," she told the others. "Wanna try?"

Sonic turned down the offer. "No thanks," he answered. "I've seen enough hair raising experiences today. Don't need to engage in another one."

"Me too," Rainbow said, agreeing with Sonic. "I really need a break from taking a deep dive and participating at that stressful race. It almost felt like I was in the Columbia Games again."

Knuckles then looks behind them and wonders what's going on. "Say, what is Amy doing?" he asks, pointing behind them.

The other friends then turns behind them. What they saw is a pretty interesting scene.

Amy is chasing the bullies who tried to attack Rainbow during the race. She berates them for trying to do the same to Sonic.

"You'll regret trying to attack my dear Sonic!" Amy whines as she chases the boys down with her hammer. Everyone involved is running in circles.

As they watched, the team can't help but laugh at the bullies' misfortune.

 **[End of Episode]**

* * *

 **From the Author:**

Sonic still can't swim, as usual. But as this shows, just because he can't swim, doesn't mean that he's totally afraid of water. He doesn't mind getting involved in other sports in the water. Just as long as he doesn't fall in the water, he should be fine.

Don't expect much for the beach episode. Next one will have something that sets our characters up for the future.

As for the recent events, I can't saw much. What I do have to ask is this. How can you have so little understanding of a concept that's been around for decades that nearly commonplace?

* * *

Written by TheAPPstore

Sonic the Hedgehog characters property of Sega

My Little Pony characters property of Hasbro


	17. Approaching Dawn

**Episode 17**

 **"Approaching Dawn"**

* * *

The quest to find their new ranger powers seems hopeless. It's been nearly six months since they lost their powers to that monster, and they've still have gotten nowhere. It looks like it's about time to give up on this search.

However, as Silver and Rarity decided to bring their gems along, some exciting discovery happened. There's a legend that says that the gem has a powerful energy coming from inside it. The only way to extract it is to find a device that is compatible with this gem, and then will they unleash the power within.

Excited to see that a new potential ranger power is on the horizon, the team dug a little deeper to find more about the gems.

* * *

 **[Beginning of Episode]**

For the past several months, the former rangers have searched long and hard to find one thing. They're looking for a ranger power to replace their old one. After they got defeated and lost their original powers, the team is on the hunt to find them.

However, even with months of searching behind them, they got nowhere.

In the Team Sonic's latest meeting in the park, they shared their findings, or lack of their findings.

"This is so frustrating," Silver told everyone. "How can we go nowhere when we had months to find our new powers? It's insane!"

Miles pondered for a moment over why no ranger power has been found yet. "Well, I might have forgotten to do that over the past several days," he admitted. "Maybe I only explored that possibility once in a while, bit it's getting a bit tiring." He then sighs. "Maybe we could give up on this search?"

Sonic and the others look at Miles in shock.

"Give up?" Sonic asks. "Are you nuts?"

Silver shook his head. "No," he replies. "We won't give up on this search. This is only the beginning. We could be getting close to our answer every second. I know. I sense that we'll get ranger powers sometime soon."

The others looked at Silver with suspicious. They're not sure if it's viable to continue searching if they mad zero progress.

"Well, we're not going anywhere when it comes to the search," Miles said, "so can you really say that we're getting closer?"

Frustrated, Silver stood up, pounding on the table.

"Bah! I give up," Silver yells in a fit of frustration. "There's no way I'm keeping my calm if I stayed here." He then gets up and stomps away from the table. "I'm going back to my home. I need some time to calm down!"

The others watched as Silver stomped away.

"Did we push him to his limit?" Knuckles asks.

* * *

Getting nowhere, what are they doing? Lounging around all day when they should be searching? Why are even bothering? We haven't seen a monster attack in...gosh, it feels like forever since it was necessary to get into ranger mode to get the job done.

Silver got to his room and slumped on his bed. After which, there is a knock on his door. The butler, Dmitri, opens the door to check of the son he's been tasked with taking care of in his parent's absence.

"Silver?" Dmitri asks, wondering what's gotten into Silver. "Something wrong?"

Silver mutters into his bedsheets, talking to Dmitri. "Nothing that matters to you, Dmitri," Silver answers, assuring his butler that this has nothing to do with him. "I was...just getting frustrated."

"Over what?" Dmitri asks.

"The new ranger power," Silver answers.

Dmitri pondered for a moment, then remembered that the household is holding something that may carry the answers to Silver and his friend's problem. He walks up to Silver, both to comfort him and to tell him this important fact. He sits down on the bed next to Silver, rubbing against his back.

"You know, we do have a gem in the basement," Dmitri reminded Silver. "Remember that?"

Silver lifted himself from his bed upon hearing this. It's as if we remembered something. "Wait a second," he said, memories flowing back into his brain. He then turns towards Dmitri, that wise old man. "What did you say?"

Dmitri smiles at Silver. "Remember the legends?" he asks.

Silver jumps out of his bed and sprinted out of his bedroom door. "Hold up one second!" he said as he dashed out towards the basement.

Silver ran down the stairs and entered a secret closet, going down the stairs into the hidden basement. There, he payed attention to the gem under the glass dome, still there and shining. Silver walked up to it and lifted the glass dome, taking the gem it kept inside. He's so glad that it's still here, and that he was reminded of the legend associated with that gem.

"When this gem is inserted in the right device, the stored energy will be released, granting the wearer power," Silver recalled, muttering to himself. And suddenly, the answers to his friend's conundrum has been found. "That's it! It must be it!" he yells. He then pocketed the gem safely in his pockets, then sprinted out of his house towards the local park.

"Stay there just a little longer guys!" Silver yelled to the world. "I'm coming!"

* * *

As the discussion goes on, Miles took out the papers he wrote out over the course of the last several months. All of them having something to do with finding a new ranger power to replace their old. As seen on the stamps, all of the suspected sources were found to not be the answers they're looking for.

"You're sure we're getting anywhere?" Espio asks, eyeing on the papers. "Because it looks like we're not."

Miles sighs, expressing his frustration to everyone. "I swear," he told everyone. "The more I search for an answer, the closer I get. But the closer I get, the further away the answer seems to be. That's so weird. So close, yet so far." Miles sighs again at this seemingly contradictory finding. "Does anyone felt the same way during the search for the new powers?"

Everyone silently nodded their heads, even though not all of them helped with finding the answers.

"Guys!" they heard Silver yell out.

At first, the guys were confused. After all, it has been fifteen minutes since Silver stormed his way out of this discussion due to how little progress was made despite the amount of time invested in it. It's as if he has changed his mind. Or it could be something else. Whichever is the case, the team watches Silver as he approaches them, though this time holding something in his hands.

"Silver?" Sonic asks as Silver stops in front of his team. "Didn't you leave a few minutes ago?"

Silver panted from tiredness. Then he lifted himself up, presenting the small gem to everyone. "I've got it!" he announces. "I've got our solution to our ranger problem. It's been hiding under our feet the entire time." He then places the gem on the table for all to see.

"What is it?" Miles asks, picking it up and inspecting it.

Knuckles then takes the gem for him to inspect. It is pretty small compared to his own hands. "This dinky gem?" he asks. "Seriously?"

"It's not just any old gem,' Silver explains. "It's a power gem. When placed in the right place, it'll grant the wearer power. Guys, I think this power could be our new ranger powers. Isn't that exciting or what?"

Sonic took the gem from Knuckles for him to inspect. He ponders as he tries to remember what Silver said about this gem before.

"Do you have any idea what this thing is?" Miles asks.

"I'm not sure," Sonic answers. Then he hands the gem back to Silver, turning towards Miles. "We might need an archeologist to have a look at that. Someone like..."

Everyone is wondering what Sonic is thinking about. But in Sonic's mind, one name stood out to him. The school's archeological history teacher.

* * *

Professor Cliff Drake is Emerald City's most famous archeologist. When he's not in school making his students see the mistakes of the past, he frequently goes on adventures into ancient cites and study the lifestyles and legends of those that came before. He might not be as bad as some other archeological teachers, as he leaves his post less frequently than others. He only goes on adventures either on the weekends or during breaks.

As the person to go when it comes to ancient artifacts, Sonic brought his team over to Cliff's house to show him the potential answer to their ranger issue.

"Oh my?" Cliff said as he picked the gem up from his desk. Team Sonic is there in his study room looking at him. "Why didn't I looked inside the houses of the former rangers?"

"I don't know," Sonic answers, pondering about it. "Maybe it's because of privacy issues?"

Cliff sets the gem back down and slides it towards Silver, who then picks it back up to put it in his pocket.

"Well, whatever the case, this could be your new ranger power," Cliff concludes from taking a few glances at the gem. "I'm excited to see what this thing could do when I see it in action. This'll be a perfect counter to those powerful monsters, so powerful that not even your skill in martial arts alone can save you."

Everyone's ears perked up when they heard that Cliff has known about these small, finger-sized gems.

"You know about these things?" Sonic asks, getting very curious. "If you know them, what can you tell us about them?"

"Great question," Cliff replies, pointing to Sonic. "I may need to call a friend to give me the full story. But if I remember correctly, my research notes should give me my answers. Let's see..."

Cliff got on into his computer and opened up a folder containing all of his research notes he has gathered from his years as an adventurer. Waiting for the other's eyes is a list of every document. Their numbers appear to be reaching the hundreds.

"It's a long archive, I know," Cliff admitted. "Just give me a moment." Cliff then uses the search bar to help him look for the correct document. It's very hard to search for the correct paper when there is hundreds of files, so the search function is useful in finding them amongst the list.

As Cliff scrolled through the search results, Silver comes up to his desk. "How long have you've been studying these gems, Mr. Drake?" he asks.

"It's been five years since I found hints of them," Cliff answers as he continues to search. "At first, I passed them up as some artifact left behind by the ancient tribe."

Miles then got curious when he dears that name. "The ancient tribe?" he asks.

Cliff leans back on his chair to take a stretch. "Oh, boy," he responded. "When you hear what these guys have done, you're going to be a amazed."

"Who are the ancient tribe?" Miles asked again.

"This was an ancient civilization that lived here long ago," Cliff said as he goes back to his keyboard. "In their prime, they've created many fantastical pieces of technology millennia ahead of their time. They're no longer here in significance anymore, but remains of their glory days can still be seen today. In additional, it has been said that some people still have ties to them to this day." He stopped to look at Knuckles, who he knows has ancestral ties to the ancient tribe.

Knuckles looks around the room and finds that everyone is looking at him. He turns back to Cliff, pointing at himself. "You're talking to me?" he asks.

Cliff went past something that caught his eyes. He has typed up "Columbia" into the search bar as went through a handful of documents. There, in the wall of text, he spotted what he and the others are looking for. "Oh! Here it is!" he said as he opened up the file. It's a document that is several pages long and contains thousands of words. "A case study of the Columbia Gems. I don't want you to be sleeping in the middle of my explanation, so allow me to explain it to you in relatively short details, just so you can understand. Prepare your ears, everyone."

* * *

"The Ancient Tribe of Columbia existed thousands of years ago, during which they developed powerful technologies that wouldn't see the day again until thousands of years later in other places."

There's several paragraphs of texts that aren't meaningful to the current situation. It mostly talks about the

"One of them were these sets sixteen, powerful, small gemstones known as the Columbian Gems. According to legend, sixteen chosen heroes will be chosen to help defend this country from those who seek to attack it. Along with them, they created sixteen devices used to harness the power stored inside the gems."

The next paragraph is about the powers contained in the gems, which currently none of the team members listening do not care about at the moment. So that section is skipped.

"They created these sometime after two legendary sets of crystals were created: The Chaos Emeralds and the Harmony Crystals. These two have the power to topple even deities, as the powers were based on actual deities. The Chaos Emeralds can be used to disrupt perception, while the Harmony Crystals draw their power from unitization of the people who want to use it.

"However, the people found these powers too powerful for any of them to handle. In addition, just having them in possession could pose a risk. Someone could come in here and steal the power for themselves. They then created these sixteen lesser gems to lower the chances of the power being used against them."

The next few paragraphs talk about the selection process of the heroes chosen to wield these gems after the two sets of powerful crystals were deemed to powerful to just be hanging out in the open. Even a single one of them was too much for one person to handle, at least that's what the messages they left behind says.

However, the last sentence of that paragraph has a sinister undertone. "They thought they were undefeatable, until that one faithful day."

"When the ancient Babylonians came into this place, they have brought in two powerful monsters who were drawn in by their thieving skills. After the Babylonians lost their island, they turned to the Ancient Tribe, where they attacked the populous.

"To save their people, the sixteen current heroes who are selected was sent out to defeat the two beasts. But that failed, as all of them were not powerful enough to topple even one of them. The idea then comes to using the Chaos Emeralds and the Harmony Crystals to deal with the beasts, but when the bodies begin to pile up, that seems like less and less of a practical option. Left without a choice, the people begged their deities to hide the Chaos Emeralds and the Harmony Crystals into someplace safe, and in their place a seal was placed on the monsters who attacked them.

"The survivors of the attack later hid the devices they created in a temple they've built, and scattered the gems around the country. They hoped that one day, when the time has come, another group of sixteen would rise up and do what cannot be done thousands of years ago.

"When settlers arrived in this land four-hundred years ago-

* * *

Manic interrupted Cliff's lecture when he brought up something. "So Columbia was founded four-hundred years ago?" he asks. "That's so long ago!"

"Oh yeah," Sonic said, remembering a lecture he saw in his history textbook. "That year when General Columbus and several other people found this land and named it after himself."

"Seems like an interesting concept for a play," Manic suggested.

Cliff scoffs at Manic for interrupting his lecture. He was right in the middle of it and then his train of thought went on a tangent. "Moving on," he says before continuing his lecture.

* * *

"The remnants of the tribe entrusted the new people to their land with the gems, saying that they should keep it in their sturdy hands until it is time for the new chosen ones to rise up again. For the next four hundred years, nothing happened. The gems remained locked in the hands of the people who were entrusted to keep them safe, while the devices collected dust in the temple they're sealed in.

"A few years ago, some travels who stumbled upon these devices in a temple they explored decided to take the devices and updated them to fit modern standards for technology. Now, these devices no longer serve as just mediums in which the power is transferred. Now, they resemble PDAs except in watch form. However, someone tried to steal the watches for themselves. The travelers who discovered these devices then caught the thief, before being ordered by the descendants of the ancient tribe to return the devices back into the temple, in order to keep it away from the hands of trouble makers."

The last line of the document reveals the location of the devices for the gems.

"The temple where these devices can be found is near the modern town of Granite Falls."

* * *

It turns out that this document was the product created by the joint collaboration between Cliff Drake, Amy Keating Yearling, and a handful of other researchers. The document is shared across all who worked on this, and it is available for viewing to all of them.

Ms. Yearling had a coincidental encounter with Rainbow and her friends when Rarity decided to bring her gem along, suspecting that it has mysterious properties. Twilight recognized the gems as the Columbian Gems, something that was mentioned in one of the papers she has studied. The Rainbooms then searched around Canterlot City looking for the elusive teacher. They found her in a hidden part of the park, not visited by many.

Ms. Yearling closes the document on her tablet and looks up to the teens, who are sitting in the same table as her listening to what she has to say.

"That's all the useful information I have right now," Ms. Yearling "I have more listed under my notes, but I don't think they are necessary right now."

Rainbow nodded as she processes this information. "Okay," she said. "I now know where we should head next. To Granite Falls!" She then begins to sprint out of the park, but Ms. Yearling stopped her.

"Hold it right there!" Ms. Yearling ordered, freezing Rainbow in her tracks. The others look at her, wondering what's the big deal. "I don't recommend doing that right now."

"Why?" Rainbow asks as she walked back towards the table. "I thought that we had it. We so close to getting our new ranger powers. I can feel it with the tips of my hands."

"The temple is currently locked," Yearling explains. "If you try to go there now, you won't be able to access it. A stubborn lock has been placed on there. It is said that only the chosen rangers can enter the temple and claim the prize inside. The lock has been placed there ever since the natives demanded that the explorers return the upgraded decides back to where they found them."

Applejack is left scratching her head. "So, what can we do now?" she asks.

"It's simple in paper," Ms. Yearling answers. "All you have to do is to prove to yourself that you are worthy of welding these new ranger powers."

The team looked at each other, then back at Ms. Yearling. "Well, we all are former rangers," Rainbow told, "so that's it, right? What's the catch?"

Ms. Yearling shook her head, bringing disappointment to everyone. "In practice, it's not easy," she said. "I don't know about this, but to prove that you're the right person for the job, you have to weld some sort of powerful weapon created by the ancient tribe to counter the monster that attacked this land many years ago. The original holders are long gone. Who knows who are the chosen welders now."

"Is there anything else we can do?" Rarity asks. "Like, is there another ranger power that would make a better replacement?"

Ms. Yearling stood up from her seat in the table, getting ready to leave. "As far as I know, these gems could be our only option," she said. She took a few steps away from them before stopping to add one more caveat. "And don't think that you can just import another power from another world. That's not how it works."

Ms. Yearling then leaves The Rainbooms behind in the park, leaving them with their heads scratching.

* * *

Cliff and Ms. Yearling then spend the following day at the Columbian Headquarters of the SGS, a building in a classified location only its members know about. They sat in one of the conference room all on their own to discuss how the search for a new ranger power has gone for the two teams.

"So, how are things going on your side?" Ms. Yearling asks as she took off her glasses and wiped them with a cloth,

Cliff took a sip of his drink. "Sonic and his pals have discovered the answer to their ranger problem," he said. "Silver had it the entire time. Issue is, they currently don't have the means of extracting the power stored inside and using them to their advantage."

"Well, that's a bummer," Ms. yearling sighed. "Might be a while before these former rangers rise up again."

Things went silent between the two adventures for a while. They appeared to be thinking.

Then Ms. Yearling spoke up, breaking the several seconds of silence. "Do you think they need it now?" she asks.

Cliff pulls out a paper he brought, containing a chart which graphs all of the monster attacks Columbia has suffered from since September of last year. It is poorly made, but it displays the data in a readable manner.

"The monster attacks have declined significantly since that incident on Babylon Garden," Cliff reads out, pointing to every date after January of the current year. "In fact, there hasn't been a monster attack since...gosh...January of this year. I wonder where the monsters decided to target now that the rangers are no longer a threat to them."

Ms. Yearling remained silent for a moment, pondering about several things at once. Then something hit her. She remembers from a previous archeologist that Columbia has received two urns containing two of the rangers' most infamous enemies. They have been placed here in Columbia until a proper seal is made in their origin world. The major delays can be attributed to the amount of monster attacks happening in that world on a weekly basis.

Lately, however, she has gotten reports that the seals on them have gotten a bit weaker.

"Speaking of which, I have gotten reports about those two major enemies of the rangers from the Human World," Ms. Yearling spoke.

Cliff stopped sipping his drink. "What's that?" he asks.

"The latest team of investigators have come to that sealing grounds last month," Ms. Yearling said. "They've found that the seal has...weakened a bit."

This came as a shock to Cliff. "No...: he muttered. "I thought that the seal placed on them was supposed to last for a hundred years. Or at least, until somebody came in and broke the seal themselves. But otherwise, we should be fine, right?"

Ms. Yearling stared more seriously at her friend and partner, startling Cliff. "It's been decades since they're defeated," she noted, "and yet they're regaining power. It won't be long before they break out of that seal of theirs and terrorize this place."

"Oh, this doesn't look good," Cliff utters. "Should we send out a team now?"

"Yes," Ms. Yearling said, nodding. "We need to know how much time we have before the seal is broken. And before it does, a new team of rangers must rise. But not just some random group of willing individuals. We need the former rangers back. Sonic, Rainbow, all of their friends. They need to go back into business as soon as possible."

"But Amy," Cliff said, taking a heavy sigh. "What if we have so little time for them to come back?"

Ms. Yearling places a assuring touch on Cliff's shoulder. "You're worrying too much, Clifford," she said. "I'm sure that they'll find their new powers sooner or later, and you know that as well."

Cliff was left stunned after hearing what his partner has said to him.

Ms. Yearling then heads towards the door, getting ready to leave.

"I'm going to tell our boss that he needs to send out a team of explorers to check on that tomb," Ms. Yearling said. "We have limited time before they break out into this beautiful world. The only thing that's stopping them are the rangers."

She then sprinted out of the conference room, leaving Cliff to pack up his stuff and exit the building. He now has no reason to remain in this area for now.

* * *

"Alright team," the chief archeologist said to a group of explorers. "I'm tasking you with this." He then shows them a map of Columbia with an arrow pointing to the northern mountains. "Get to this location right now and check on this sealing grounds. The enemies of the rangers have been found to be gaining power. Sooner or later, they will break out of the seal placed on them and escape into this world to bring their destructive power into our home."

One of the selected explorers raised his hand to speak up. "Isn't it just three weeks since-" he began.

"I don't care how long it's been," the chief said. "What I care about is for those two to not escape." He then hands a bag of mystic powder into his most trusted employee out of the group. "Here. Have some sealing powder. Sprinkle on their seals to enforce the seal for a little longer. We don't have much time. Now get out there and check on that seal stat!"

"Yes sir!" the group said to the chief all at once. And then they leave the lobby, getting ready to perform their duties.

"And don't even think about breaking them yourself," the chief told them. "You'll just accelerate the problem." He then leans back on his chair, taking a deep breath. "I need a break from all this stress right now. The little time before disaster strike is taking me on an unpleasant path."

* * *

Later that day, Sonic and Rainbow are talking to each other via phone, updating each other on their quest to find a new ranger power.

"So, you guys have discovered the answer to your ranger problem, correct?" Rainbow asks.

"Yes," Sonic answered. "But, there's an issue. We do not know the location of the devices capable of using the energy stored inside the gems."

Rainbow leans back, finding the question easy to answer. "Oh, that's easy," she said. "They're near Granite Falls."

Sonic got a bit skeptical about how trivial the task appears to be. "Is it really that easy?" he asks.

Rainbow's smile turns into a frown as she tells Sonic the reality of their situation. "Well, it's easy to find the temple where they're stored in," she said. "Getting into that temple...not so much."

"What do you mean not so much?" Sonic asks, wanting answers.

"You see, that temple has a lock on it," Rainbow explains, "and it refuses to open unless the those suited to weld the power is present. As a matter of fact, I'm not sure if we got the criteria."

Sonic pondered for a moment. "So what do we do?" he asks.

Rainbow shook her head, pinching her nose and closing her eyes. "I don't know," she sighed. "But there has to be something in this world that proves to us that we a worthy of receiving a new ranger power. Our answer must be around here somewhere."

* * *

Just yesterday, Silver returned the gem to his home, placing it under it's rightful place. He picks up the glass dome and places his gem under it.

"Stay safe in there," Silver told the gem, giving the dome a pat. "I'm not going to carry that thing around with me all the time. Pesky thieves might steal that from me."

He then walks back upstairs to ground level. In his workshop, however, there are two incomplete bows that are just waiting to be finished.

* * *

At the same time, Rarity places her gem in the storage room under her home.

"Well, it happened to me once," Rarity said, looking at her white gem. "I'm not letting it happen again. Pesky thieves, what do they think that this gem is worth? Is it really that valuable to be worth stealing?"

In a frustrated fit, Rarity walked upstairs back into ground level. In the storage room, however, there are two arrows sitting on a table in plain sight.

* * *

They've done it. They've finally got within reach of their new ranger powers. Problem is, they don't have a means of transforming yet. That means that they're not back into the ranger business yet. Adding to this, it looks like two former enemies of the rangers is about to be unleashed into this world, the Prism World. Columbia faces a grim future full of attacks.

Unfortunately for the citizens of Columbia, that day doesn't seem to far off. Fortunately for them, they don't have to wait very long before their favorite heroes go back in business.

The time is ticking.

 **[End of Episode]**

* * *

 **From the Author:**

So, now you know how two of the major villains of Gemranger came to be. They were brought to here as a place of safekeeping while a sealing grounds was being developed in the Human World, only for the seal to be broken prematurely.

However, there is one more question left unanswered by the beginning of Gemranger: How did Sonic and Rainbow get here?

The answer will come in the season finale of this transition season.

* * *

Written by TheAPPstore

Sonic the Hedgehog character property of Sega

My Little Pony characters property of Hasbro


	18. Left Alone

**Episode 18**

 **"Left Alone"**

* * *

 **[Beginning of Episode]**

With hot summer days come hot, lonely days. Miles is lounging around in his house all on his own. Several friends have gone on vacation and the ones that stay have life in the way. So the team members do not have a lot of time to hang out with each other, at least for now.

Miles slumps on his desk as the grasp of boredom catches up to him. "Ugg..." he groans, his life feeling empty and hallow. "I feel so lonely without the older people to look after me." He then looks over everyone who is gone based on the notifications he's received just last week. "My babysitter is with her friends, Sonic is taking a vacation, pretty much half of my friends is taking a vacation. The ones that don't are too bust for us to have a gathering."

Miles then looks outside and sighs. "What should I do now?" he asks himself. "Should I go to my workshop and start another project? My mind is blank...I don't know what should I do now that I'm all on my own."

Suddenly. Miles hears a knock on his front door.

"Hmm? Who's there?" Miles asks.

There was a muffled response coming the front door, so Miles got up from his seat and walks downstairs to answer the door.

Outside, Applejack is with several preteens, waiting outside Miles' house. As she knocked, her younger sister Apple Bloom walks up to her and asks.

"Hey! Miles!" Applejack calls as she continued to knock on the door. "Are you there?"

Apple Bloom looks up to her sister. "You sure that this is a good idea?" she asks.

Applejack stops knocking on the door and looks towards her sister. "Don't yah remember, sugercube?" she sighs. "There is something going on in our barn that I just don't want you around."

"Aww," Apple Bloom groans. "Isn't making apple juice fun?" she asks.

"Well, the machinery in our place has plenty of exposed moving parts," Applejack responded. "Trust me, you don't want to stick your finger in those."

Apple Bloom then tugs on Applejack's shirt, much to the dismay of everyone else. "But I want to work with you!" she winded. "Couldn't you use some extra labor around here?"

Applejack leans down to her sister's level. "Listen, sugarcube," she said as she brushes her sister's hair. "I haven't fully trusted you in handling these dangerous machines. I don't want you to be around when they're active. Got it?"

Apple Bloom frowns and sheds a tear as she learns that this type of thing is not something someone her age should be around. She could not hang out with her sister for now.

After what seems like several minutes, Miles answered the door. "Hey, Applejack!" he greeted. "How are-" He stopped himself upon seeing the kids next top her that are his age. "Oh. Uh...what are these guys doing here?"

"Me and some of my friends have been visited by a suspicious juice making duo," Applejack explains, pointing north towards her farm. "I challenged them to a competition to see how much juice they can make with their machine of theirs."

Miles got confused. Just what was going on over at Sweet Apple Acres? Applejack has said that a suspicious duo has arrived at her farm, but who are they?

"Anyway, these kids tried to join in," Applejack continued to explain, "but I don't want to risk them losing their fingers to the moving parts. Best if we...take them to your home? You are the wisest kid we can find, right?"

Miles was curious about what is going on up north at Sweet Apple Acres. But for now, he is entrusted in keeping an eye on these preteens while the older ones are away, either because of vacation or life is getting in the way.

With that said, he does a head count of everyone who is there aside from Applejack. He recognizes Scootaloo, Apple Bloom, Sweetie, Rumble, and...wait, who are these other three? One is purple and green, the second has light yellow pigtails that go down to her waist, and the third has a helmet for some reason. The one in purple looks pretty reserved, the light yellow girl appears quiet and shy, and the third looks like he has so much energy that he could burst into a frenzy at any moment. The last two reminds him of two of Rainbow's friends.

"Who are these new faces?" Miles asked, referring to the three unfamiliar faces. "I haven't seen them before."

Scootaloo opened her mouth to speak, but she is interrupted by Applejack. "Just introduce yourself to him, alright," Applejack told the others. Then she begins to walk away. "Now, y'all better be doing fine together. Meanwhile, I have a farm to defend. Alright? Okay, see ya!" She then dashes off towards the nearest station.

Miles looked at the preteens in front of him and sighs. "Okay," he said. "So we're all young kids living in a house all on our own. Yay..."

The excited kid with a helmet slams himself into Miles, knocking him into his house. "Oh, this is going to be great!" the hyperactive boy said, pinning Miles' arms to the floor. "We're going to have so much fun together!"

"Chill out, Charmy," Scootaloo said as she walked into the house along with everyone else. She catches the attention of the boy and Miles' "We're really here to learn how to take care of ourselves in the absence of those older than us."

Miles then snapped his vision to the boy on top of him. "Wait, Charmy?" he gasps. He swears that he heard the name before.

Charmy snaps back towards Miles. He clings on his collar, pulling him closer to his eyes. "Have you heard of Espio?" he said, pratically screaming into Miles' face. I've heard that he joined your team. Isn't that cool or what?"

Miles looked around, only to find that everyone else is looking at him and Charmy.

"Yeah, he has a lot of energy," Scootaloo admitted. "Kind of like Pinkie Pie. Oh, and Charmy?"

Charmy then looks back at Miles. "Oh! Sorry about that," he apologizes. "I didn't meant to startle you."

Miles got back up and cleans up the back of his jacket. While he does so, he is approached by the purple and green boy he saw earlier.

"Who might you be?" Miles asks.

The boy proudly tapped his fist on his own chest. "I'm Spike!" the boy proclaims. "Twilight's adoptive younger brother."

Miles then got confused about when they met Spike.

"We met this guy around the same time as when Twilight transferred into Canterlot High," Scootaloo explains, catching Miles' confusion. "You can thank her for introducing him to us."

The last one that Miles payed attention to is the light yellow girl. He took a step toward her, and she steps away from him, covering her mouth. "Who are you?" he asks. "I don't remember seeing your face before. Though, from the way you act when I approach you, you remind me of someone that I know."

The girl uncovered her mouth and spoke, though quietly. "I'm Cr..." she said before her voice is rendered illegible.

The others were up in arms, not catching her name.

"Sorry. I didn't catch that," Miles said. "What was your name again?"

The girl spoke again, this time a little louder and clearer. "I'm Cream," the girl said in a voice that greatly resembles Fluttershy. "Sorry if I hesitated. So, what's yours?"

"Oh, me?" Miles asks, placing his hand on his chest. "Well, I'm Miles. Miles Prower. Pardon the pun there."

"Okay," Scootaloo said, walking around the place. "So we're here without anyone to look after us except for ourselves. Now what?"

"Oh!" Miles said, getting an idea. "We should-" then he hears some banging on the doors. He looks at his workshop door and found Apple Bloom pounding on it. "What the-?" he gasped.

"I want to work with machinery!" Apple Bloom cried as she ponded on the door. "I want to see what it looks like to operate them!"

"Don't!" Miles yelled as he pushes Apple Bloom away. "There's lots of dangerous machines in there. You could get hurt if you aren't careful."

"Aww..." Apple Bloom groans.

"Good," Miles said. "Now, what should we-"

"Ohh! Pillows!" Charmy said, eying on the pillows on the couch. "Let's have a pillow fight with these!" He then starts dashing off, only to be held in the collar by Scootaloo.

"Oh, no you don't Charmy," Scootaloo told him. "I don't want to see another mess in another person's home, especially if the owner is among us."

Charmy stopped kicking in the air. "Aww..." he groans.

Miles walked up to Scootaloo. "Huh? I thought I was tasked to be in charge of them," he said.

Scootaloo lets go of Charmy and looks towards Miles. "Does that excuse me from helping you out?"

Miles opened to gasp, but he shook himself out of it. "Look, Scootaloo," he said. "I was tasked with looking over these kids while their older siblings...participate in some sort of competition. This is my responsibility now. What are you doing taking that responsibility away from me?"

Scootaloo glared back at Miles, all while everyone else watches. "For one thing, I am not stealing your responsibility," she told him. "We're sharing it. I am doing this for the sake of your own sanity. I saw what a disaster my last sleepover was, and I want to make sure that this won't happen again. Got it?"

Miles shook his head. "You just don't get it." Then he hears some footsteps coming from behind him. He turns around and finds Spike chasing Cream around a table with a claw hammer. "Hey!" he shouted. "Drop that hammer now!"

Spike stopped and looked at Miles as he dropped the hammer from his hands. "What?" he asks. Then a startling sound of a hammer hitting the floor echoes through the house.

"Ahh!" Cream shrieked as she fell down. She is caught by Rumble. "You scared me Mr. Spike. What made you think that's a good idea?"

Miles walked up to where the hammer landed, and found a crater in his floor. "Aww man," he groans. "You've left a dent in my floor!" He then leans down to pick it up.

"Sorry about that," Spike apologizes. "I was just curious."

"Curious?" Rumble shouted, pointing to the hammer. "About what this thing does? Have you ever seen a hammer in action in all your life? Then what makes you want to use this? Urg. You're frustrating."

This gathering is not having a great start. While everyone is still deciding on what activities to do together, Sweetie Belle gets an idea.

"Hey! I have an idea," Sweetie said, catching everyone's attention. "How about we sing a few songs? I've got one to share right now!"

"Oh dear..." Scootaloo said, covering her ears.

"What do you mean oh-" Miles asks.

"Ninety-nine buckets of oats on the wall," Sweetie sang, much to the dispay of everyone around her. "Ninety-nine buckets of oats!"

As Sweetie continued to sing...horribly, some people stared to remark on this situation.

"That's not what I want to hear for a lullaby," Scootaloo remarks.

"This is going to be a long day..." Miles groans.

* * *

Sweetie sang for what seems like several more minutes until someone stopped her right in the middle of her song. The song was very out of tune, which is why everyone found it very jarring to hear. The group of preteens then sat around the table, wondering what they should do next.

Sweetie looks at the others. "Did my voice break your ears?" she asks, her voice screeching from singing that song out of tune.

Miles glared disapprovingly at Sweetie. "I think the better question is, did that song broke your vocal cords?" he asks back. "That took a long time to get though and plus, your voice sounds a little weaker today."

The first thing that Sweetie checked is her neck. She made a sound with her voice to hear what it sound like now.

Apple Bloom got frustrated over the lack of things to do "Well, that won't work today" she said, referring to singing songs. "Maybe we should try some carpentry and see where that take us."

"How about no?" Miles said as he leered at Apple Bloom.

Apple Bloom turns back towards Miles. "What? Why?" she asks, confused.

"Do you think I trust you enough for me to grant you access to my workshop?" he asks, as if Apple Bloom didn't get the memo yet. "There's dangerous macninery in there. As I said, you could get hurt if you're not careful. If your older siblings don't trust you enough to be around industrial machinery, then do I trust you enough for you to be safe around the power machines in my workshop?"

Realizing that they're not entering Miles' workshop anytime soon, Apple Bloom groans, "Aww..."

Scootaloo slides her chair over to Apple Bloom's, comforting her. "Now, now. Don't fret," she told her friend. "I'm sure that Miles has plenty of stuff to do in his house." Then she turns to Miles to ask him something. "Hey, mind if I check your closet? I'd bet you have some board games."

Suddenly, Charmy perked up. "Did I hear board games?" he asks, eager to do something.

Miles got up from his chair. "I'll go get them," he said. "I think I have some in the first level closet. Give me a moment."

Miles then walks towards the closet and shifts through several board games and tabletop games he has in there.

"So, what shall we play today?" Miles asks the others. "I've got some games from the Forbidden Ruins franchise. Why don't we try to cooperate? Or how about classics such as Chess? Or Checkers? Will Shaky Towers satisfy your thurst for some fun?"

Scootaloo stood up first, getting first bids on what to play. "I want to play Forbidden...whatever!" she suggests. "It'll be so fun working as a team to face against the clock of death."

"Those types of games is nearly impossible to win," Rumble pointed out. "How about some Shaky Towers instead?"

"How can we fit this many players into one game?" Cream asks. "Some of us has to sit out."

"Well, guess that game is out," Rumble grumpily said.

"Whoa, whoa, whoa, guys!" Scootaloo said, trying to calm everyone down.

Miles leans over, peeking beyond the closet door. "I thought I was in charge," he said.

"I'm doing this for you!" Scootaloo told Miles.

The group of friends then dissolve into an argument over what they should do.

Miles snaps from the pressure these preteens are giving him. "You know what?" he declared. "How about we have more than one game active at a time? Then at least everyone has something to play."

"Yeah!" everyone except Scootaloo cheers.

"Well, two games or more it is," Miles decides.

* * *

Soon, there were three groups of players who are doing different things. Miles, Scootaloo, and Rumble are baking their way through the Forbidden City, working to recover the four treasures of the fallen city. The rest are playing a game of Lemons to Limes, a game of picking an item that best matches with the category, for the judge anyway. Meanwhile, Cream just watches.

Rumble has found himself surrounded by all sides by blocked tiles covered in debris, while the other two are standing in the opposite side of the pile. He has already taking his first move, which is to move to an adjacent unblocked tile. His allies are on the other side of the pile of debris. However, it's been a while since Rumble has made his move.

"Stupid debris," Rumble grumbles as he ponders his next move. "I can't clear all of it in one turn before all my work is undone." His focus shifts between the bap in front of him and the quake cards off to his side.

"Oh, don't worry, Rumble," Scootaloo assures him. "This tile may get blocked again, or it will not. It all depends on what's next on that quake deck." She then points to the board to plan out the moves Rumble should take. "If we can clear the pile to debris to unblocked levels, then we can cross it and regroup. That's a smart move."

Rumble reaches towards his piece, but finds himself frozen. He suspects that the next card in the quake deck will be the tile that he just cleared. "What am I supposed to do here?" he asks the others. "I'm stuck! We're never going to find all the treasures in time before the city collapses around us."

While everyone is thinking, there appears to be an uproar in the other table. They can't make out what is being said, but they can tell that it was a dispute on the judge's part.

Miles grew angry at the Lemons to Limes players. "Hey!" he yells. "Calm it down! You're clouding our minds with that loud shouting!"

Meanwhile, Cream crouches down from her place, startled by the uproar.

Miles turns around on his chair, back towards the game board. "Man, these friends can never agree with each other," he said.

Scootaloo huffs out at Miles as her focus returns to the game she is playing. She gives some advise to Rumble. "You'd better dig yourself out of that pile of debris and cross it," she suggests. "You've only got three moves remaining, and we've still got two more treasures to reclaim."

Rumble looks over at the bottom left corner, a region of the city covered in debris due to bad luck with the quake deck. "But what about that section over in that corner?" he asks, pointing to said corner.

Scootaloo takes a look at Miles' adventure card. His special ability is that he can clear two units of debris for one move. She points to the corner with the piles of debris. "We need to Miles to get over there so that he can clear most of the debris in one move," she said. "And our only option is to clear that path."

"But if I did that, there's a chance that my move will be undone," Rumble complains, much to the pain of the other two players.

"So?" Scootaloo asks. "That's the risk that comes with exploring a hazardous place."

Pressured from the risks associated with his moves, Rumble gives up. "You know what? Forget this," he declares. "I'm skipping my turn."

"You still have moves remaining," Scootaloo pointed out. "You can't pass a turn until you've consumed all your moves. That's what it said in the rule book."

"So what should I do now?" Rumble asks, yelling at Scootaloo's ears.

"Just. Clear. The. Debris!" Scootaloo yelled back.

While the yelling is happening between two of the players, there is another uproar at the other table. There appears to be yet another dispute over the card that the judge chose.

Frustrated with these loud voices, Miles snaps. He cannot take any more. "GAH!" he screams, standing up form his seat and catching the attention of everyone. "You guys are frustrating to work with! I'm out here! I can't stand you guys!"

Miles then stomps his way into the back door, where he exits his house and into his yard.

The rest of them blinked as Miles disappeared beyond the door.

"Did I anger him?" Rumble wonders.

Scootaloo sighs. "It's not just you," she answers. "It's everyone's fault."

"What?" everyone else said as they stare at Scootaloo.

Scootaloo sighs again. "Give me a moment," she told everyone. She stood up from her seat and chases Miles down.

* * *

Scootaloo got out of the back door and spotted Miles walking through the backward. She goes after him. "Miles! Wait!" she yells as she ran up to Miles.

Miles stopped and sighed. "What is it?" he asks.

"I know how hard it is to be a good leader when faced with so many different people," Scootaloo answers.

Miles turns around and looks at Scootaloo. "A what?"

"You and your friends haven't been seeing each other much since Sonic has left for vacation," Scootaloo answers. "And that's because you guys don't have a leader to guide you guys along the way."

"What do you mean?" Miles asks.

Scootaloo frowns upon hearing this. "Sonic never taught you how to lead, right?" she asks.

Miles turns his gaze away. "Well, thing is, he's always there to lead the team so there isn't much reason for me to do the same," he admitted.

Scootaloo sighs and grabs Miles' shoulder. "Listen," she told him. "I heard that you are becoming rangers again, and when danger comes you need some organization. And sometimes, he's not there to take charge in the heat of the moment."

"What do you mean?" Miles asks, curious about what his friend meant.

"I always wanted to be the leader of my friends," Scootaloo told, "and I begged Rainbow to teach me how to be one. But when she refused, instead of taking a backseat...I taught myself how to be one.

Miles growled at Scootaloo. "You're kidding," he said.

"Miles, we might be similar in that we have someone awesome that we look up to," Scootaloo said. "But you need to understand that I'm not a part of her team like you are a part of his team. And Sonic trusts you to take his place should he be away."

"Sonic is always there for us," Miles said. "He is rarely apart from me for very long."

"But he's not," Scootaloo said. "He's going on vacation to take a break from his friends. I understand that he wants to go away simply because of the crazy stuff that's happening this year. And when he's away, the responsibility of being a leader goes to you. He trusts you to take his place. You two have known each other for years, since you were young. But now, you're older and wiser. Waiting for Sonic to come back isn't an option. It's time for you to take charge now."

Miles thought about it for a moment. He inspects his body for a moment. "You're right," he realizes. "I am older. I'm not a vulnerable young kid anymore. It's time for me to step out of that shadow and take charge whenever I can."

"That's the Miles that I would like to see," Scootaloo cheers, smiling at him. Then she hugs him as a reward.

Miles looks up towards the sky. "Sonic," he mumble, "you'll be so proud of me when you return."

Suddenly, the two hears some noise coming from the back door. It sounds like something is going on inside.

When Miles opened up the back door, to his horror, his living room has dissolved into chaos. Charmy is chasing Spike, Apple Bloom and Sweetie are in an argument, and Rumble is crouching under one of the tables with Cream. the chaos stopped once everyone sees that Miles is there and he does not look very happy to see this type of thing happening inside his house.

"What the-" Miles gasps, his breath taken away by the state of his house. "What's going on in there?"

The others looked at each other, wondering if they did something wrong.

Scootaloo sighs. "So, this is what happens when you leave a group with unresolved tensions all on their own without a direction to follow," she observed.

* * *

After everyone cleaned up Miles' house, he and Scootaloo stood in front of everyone else while they sit of the couch and nearby chairs to listen to them. There, Miles and Scootaloo delivered a speech.

Miles sighed, disappointed by how everyone behaved. "Look," he began. "You guys want to have fun in my house while the older ones are away. And that's understandable. Maybe life is getting in the way, or maybe they just wanted a break and go away from some time. Maybe they are doing something that they just don't want younger guys like us to be around. And that's okay." There was a pause in his speech. Everyone appears to be listening to him. He sighs again. "But...you've got to understand that you guys are friends. You shouldn't allow such small things get in the way of your relationships. Because at the end of the day, friendship is about enjoying each other's company, getting over our differences, and being considerate of each other."

A wave of realizations hit these preteens hard. They realized that they allowed a few minor things threaten their friendship between each other, almost like the teens that many of them look up to.

"Wow, Mr. Miles," Cream said, amazed by what she is hearing. "You're starting to sound a lot like Sonic."

Miles felt a little embarrassed when he hears that he is beginning to resemble his surrogate brother. "I am?" he asks, a small blush appearing in his cheeks. "Wow, even I impress myself sometimes."

Scootaloo then takes a step forward. "Oh, and guys," she began to remind everyone. "Just because your friend does something that you don't agree with, doesn't mean that you'll get to attack them, either verbally or physically. We've got to compromise and work together through the choices we make. It might not go well all of the time, but it's much better than to not listen to everyone's opinions. You might not agree with the decisions others make, but in a cooperative environment, we must understand that we are doing things for the benefit of everyone. And in competitive? You might not agree with someone's opinion, but you've got to respect them for thinking that way. Don't say that your idea is much better unless it's actually much better."

Another wave of realizations hits these preteens. They start to understand that they shouldn't roar in anger over minor disagreements in opinions. They now know to be considerate of other's opinion of things, especially their friends. They might have some differences, but they have to respect them if they want their bonds to last.

Something about what Scootaloo said rings a bell in Sweetie's head. "I'm starting to hear Rainbow Dash in my head when you made that speech," Sweetie said, starting to hear Rainbow's voice inside her head.

"I am?" Scootaloo gasp, covering her mouth with her hand. "Man, legacies of others is starting to influence us sooner than we expected." She was surprised that even though she doesn't see Rainbow as often as she would like, she is making a huge impact in her life.

"It's almost felt like Sonic and Rainbow are passing the torch to us in our absence," Miles remarks.

"Well, since those two are the leaders of their teams," Spike brings up, "maybe you two should do the same for this circle of friends."

Miles did not like the idea. He steps back a little bit. "Me? A leader for this group?" he asks. "Well, I would love to, but I'm already a member of Sonic's team. I already have a busy schedule, so why would I be a part of two groups?"

Everyone burst into laughter.

"It's okay, Miles," Scootaloo assures. "This group is about as large as your circle of friends. I'm sure that I'm enough to take charge."

* * *

At the end of the day, everyone is happy. The group of preteens are enjoying each other's company even more than before. Things were a lot calmer whenever there is disagreement, and moves were made to push the group in the right direction, even if there is a risk of failure.

Applejack returns to pick up the preteens, and she delivers a big announcement. She and her friends won the apple juice making competition. Sure, not all of her friends are there to see it or help her out, but she won nonetheless. And the reason she won was a silly one. Their opponents did a rush job in order to win, resulting in the resulting juice having a lower quality as a result. Also, there appears to be stems and seeds in the drink. As a result, they were driven out of the farm, taking their products with them.

Everyone leaves Miles' home to return home. Family members are waiting for them. Once everyone is gone, Miles got an idea. This is something he has to tell Sonic about. Since he is abroad, she most practical method to send a message through the web towards his location.

He sat down at his computer and typed on his keyboard.

"Dear Sonic," Miles began. "I was lounging in my house wondering what I should do when suddenly, I have several kids my age come into my room to stay for a day. All without any older supervision. At first, it went fine. But then everyone quickly got under their nerves for...minor things. I felt like this gathering is ruined. I just don't know how to handle it. Then, Rainbow's idol came along and explained to me that this is supposed to be something to build my leadership skills. For years after being around you, you've never taught me this skill. But as an older kid, this friend made me realize the importance of taking charge when the current leader is unavailable.

"After the gathering is done, she offered me a position on her circle of friends as a co-leader. However, her group is small enough that one leader should suffice. There is no need for me to be in two groups at once.

"I hope that one day, you'll promote me to being another leader of your team so that I can continue to practice my skills as a leader. Rainbow and you bay be able to handle the large team, but maybe you two need a backup plan just in case you two are unable to take charge. Anyway, I hope you have a great vacation. I'll see you when you return!

"Sinserely, Miles Prower."

In the morning, Sonic is going through is online inbox when he finds Miles' letter to him. He reads it, and is quite amazed to see what Miles is doing while he is away.

"Wow," Sonic said, impressed by what he is reading. "The young boy is starting to take over my role in my absence. Hmm, maybe when I come back, I'll pass on my skills onto him. Like a parent teaching their lessons they learned to their child."

He then looks out the window into the city he's visiting.

"As the most capable team member, aside from Rainbow, I might find myself in tough situations. Situations that may leave me unable to take charge of my team. I think...I trust him enough to take charge should this happen. After all, he's my closest friend."

 **[End of Episode]**

* * *

 **From the Author:**

In my mind, Scootaloo is the female counterpart of Miles, just like Rainbow is the female counterpart of Sonic. Unlike Miles, Scootaloo has only knew her idol for less than a year. Also, she is not Rainbow's surrogate younger sister. Yet.

This is one of the most difficult episodes for me to write because of how hard it is for me to come up with how the story goes. At this point, I couldn't delay this episode any further. I have the last two episodes of this transition season in production, and delaying them would mean that I'd miss my deadline for the first year anniversary for then Gemranger was first published in it's first form.

Oh, and when this episode went live, happy 27th anniversary, Sonic the Hedgehog! Might be one day ahead, but congratulations for making it this long, even with all the rough patches over the years.

* * *

Written by TheAPPstore

Sonic the Hedgehog characters, property of Sega

My Little Pony characters, property of Hasbro


	19. Back to School

**Episode 19**

 **"Back to School"**

* * *

Goodbye summer, hello a new year. It's been exactly one year since these teens first got a taste of what being a ranger is like. A defender of their home from the various dangers that try to attack it.

It's time to look back on this year, and it's time to wonder what the future will hold. It's also time to see the missing scenes not shown in the original episodes.

During the search of a way to unlock the door to the temple near Granite Falls, a mysterious person sends invitations to invite six selected people to go see the filming of Daring Do. They say that they have something interesting to show them there.

* * *

 **[Beginning of Episode]  
**

"Well, goodbye summer," Sonic said as he watches the sun go down from his bedroom. "We know you very well, but it's time to move on." He then sighs, looking back at the previous year. "I can't believe that it's been one year since me and my friends first got their ranger powers. I remember those days well."

This week is the final week of summer before it's back to school. Hopefully, unlike last year, no monsters will show up on the first day.

* * *

"The year that we became rangers," Rainbow wrote on her diary. "It kicked off when a tentacle monster girl attacked our school in an attempt to steal a set of tiny crystals with some power inside of them. But after I knocked her away from my school, it then switched targets and attacked Emerald High School. There, Sonic and his friends are placed on a path which will soon lead to encounter.

"For several months, the two teams have operated separately without knowing that the other team exists..."

* * *

The memories are faint at this point, but they still remember those crazy days where there was an incident at their school.

During the frog invasion incident at Emerald High, things looked normal for a test day until everyone hears frogs in the hallway.

Miles pondered for several seconds as he tried to figure out the solution of the exercise in front of him. He begins to pick up the pieces and put them together to hopefully create the correct answer. As he is pondering, something strange happened in the hallways that interrupted his train of thought.

Miles lifted his head up when he hears several croaking sounds outside. "Wait a second," he asks everyone. "Did you hear that?"

Everyone paused their quizzes to listen to the ambient sounds.

"Hear what?" one of the students asked, wondering what's going on.

"It sounds like...frogs?" Miles answered.

Everyone got confused when Miles said that there were frogs outside, roaming the hallways of the school.

"What?" the teacher gasped. "Did a science class had an accident and released several noisy frogs?"

Miles got up from his seat and took a peek outside. Rushing past the door are Sonic and Espio.

"Ahh!" Sonic screamed as he ran down the hallway. "What's with these frogs? Why are they carrying spears?"

It seemed ridiculous at first, until a horde of upright frogs holding spears ran past them.

"Split up!" Espio yelled in the distance. "Split up!

"Oh no!" Miles gasped upon seeing what is happening. "Sonic and Espio are in trouble!"

Miles then got out of the classroom and ran down the hallway chasing after the frogs while who is chasing after Sonic.

The teacher reached out to Miles. "Wait! Miles!" the teacher said. "Where are you going? Come back here at once!"

Miles did not listen. For this case, the safety of his friend matters more than the quiz. Also, the school has a frog infestation. Who wants frogs to ruin everyone's day, especially those who are carrying spears?

* * *

While Applejack is challenging herself to harvest all of the apples, Rainbow and her friends are chasing down a giant bull who is heading towards the farm.

"That bull is heading towards Sweet Apple Acres!" Rainbow yelled as she and her team chase after the bull. They ran past several apple trees. "Applejack's home. Don't let that bull get to her house!"

The bull hits a narrow clearing, meaning that he cannot continue further. He turns around only to find himself cornered by the girls. He then freaks our.

Fluttershy, as an expert in animal care, steps towards the bull with her arm out. "Excuse me?" she said, approaching the bull. "Mr. Bull? Mind if you calmed down? There you go."

The girls became tense as Fluttershy got closer to the bull. The bull then lowers his head to Fluttershy's level.

Fluttershy rubs her hand on the bull's face. "Now be a good boy and go back to-" And then she touched the bull's horn, which caused it to yank it's head up, bringing Fluttershy up to his head. "Wah!" she shrieked as she got on top of the bull.

Then the bull starts to rampage around the clearing, trying to throw Fluttershy off. With every step, it shakes the ground, causing some of the nearby apples to fall.

The girls gasp when they saw their friend in a dire situation.

"Fluttershy!" Rainbow cried.

Fluttershy clings to the bull as it ran around the orchard. "Ahh!" she screams, tears coming from her eyes. "No! Stop it! Don't leave me this way!"

Rarity and Pinkie then morphed into their ranger form to try and stop the bull from rampaging further and threatening Fluttershy's life. Rainbow, meanwhile, refuses to help out as a unsettling feeling went through her mind.

"Grr," Rainbow grumbles as she walked towards a nearby rock. "I don't want to see that hammer of his again..."

Rarity notices that Rainbow is retreating instead of helping out her team. "Darling!" she cried. "What are you doing? You're retreating? But why?" She then gets trampled by the bull as it passes by.

Rainbow hides behind a rock, shaking her head and covering it. She is ashamed of herself for what she allowed to happen. "I can't believe I allowed that to happen to her," she mumbled.

* * *

It was during the first day of Manic's crazy episode, one out of many in his life. It was one of those days where Manic would go a little crazy, often doing some wild things for no apparent reason.

For the past several incidents, there was nothing to worry about. Aleena had Sonic and herself to keep Manic chained down to reasonable levels. Now that both of her sons are rangers, she is getting a bit concerned of what Manic would do in the face of trouble around her home.

It's almost time to take her boys to school. Aleena grabs the doorknob of the front door of her house. "Okay, boys," she said. "Let's get packing. Time to-"

As soon as Aleena opened the door, Manic immediately made a run for the door, his tongue sticking out of his mouth. Aleena grabbed him by the collar as he kicked his legs in the air.

"Whoa! Manic!" Aleena gasp upon seeing the energy level of her green son. "You need to slow yourself down a little bit. You're going to hurt yourself."

Manic shift his eyes towards his mother. "Hey! Mom!" he said. "Race you to school!" He jumped out of his mom's hand and sprinted down the street towards school at his maximum speed.

"Hey!" Sonic yelled as he hopped out of the door, putting on his shoes. "It won't be a race without me!" He two sprinted down the street towards school, chasing after Manic.

Aleena watched as her sons ran down the street without her. While she's alone, she looks off to the side, There was something that she has to say about Manic, but she couldn't bring herself to speak of it in front of him or Sonic. She clings to her heart as she stares into the sky.

"Manic..." she began. "I always knew that you're the oddball of our household. There's something about you that makes you different from the rest of us. I'm not sure if this is the proper time to ask you this, but...are you really my own son? Do you really share my genes?" She then spotted a plane flying over her house. "And Chuck, may I ask you this. When are you coming home? It's been a long time since we've last seen you. We really miss you at home."

* * *

The hoverboard prototype tournament has ju8st ended its third race, and Rainbow is excited to participate in her forth. She sits next to her teammates who joined her in this tournament. In the same train car, Rainbow's friend have joined them, waiting to arrive to cheer them on for the decisive face.

"I can't wait to get into that fourth race,' Rainbow said, unable to hold her excitement any longer. "Lightning my only have one victory under her belt, but I will surely snag that third victory and claim the prize!"

Thunder did not respond, while Applejack rolled her eyes.

"Now, that's all well and good," Applejack comments, "but the prizes are the Babylonian Keys. You sure that you have something that...you know...these keys can be used on?"

"If there are keys, it must unlock something," Thunder said. "There has to be something that these keys can unlock. And I'm getting the feeling that Lightning has it."

"What do you mean?" Applejack asks.

"You're suspicious of Lightning?" Rainbow asks. "Why?"

"It's something about the prize of this tournament," Thunder told his friends. "I am asking myself this question since I saw her there in the tournament. What was her intentions of joining this tournament? Is she chasing after the same prize as us? Or does she have something related to the prize? Or maybe she has a grudge against us and she wants to vent out her anger on us."

The other girls were scratching their heads over this.

"I...I don't really know," Applejack answers.

A bell sound rings across the train, catching everyone's attention.

"Attention all riders!" the conductor announces. "There has been an incident down the line near the city of Snakewater. As a result, we'll have to take an alternate path to get to our destination. Expect this ride to take a bit longer than usual."

The train was filled with groans upon hearing the news.

"Oh, come on!" Rainbow yelled. "Seriously? A delay because of an incident in the tracks? What gives?"

"Oh, don't worry," Applejack assures. "They'll probably just delay the final race for a few more hours. See? No need to worry."

* * *

For as long as they have been active as rangers, Sonic and Rainbow have been recording what happened over the months. While first intended to record everything that has something to do with them being rangers, this has been extended to all activities they and their team have done together, whether they're present or not. Since January of this year, they have been exclusively recording activities they've done together.

Sonic is in a chatroom with Rainbow as they look over their memoires they've collected since last year.

"Look at all the ridiculous moments from our days as a ranger," Sonic remarked as he looked at his journal. "We encountered several weird scenarios over the past year. I'm really looking forward to what next near has to offer for us. Especially since we will be getting our new powers sometime soon."

Rainbow couldn't help but laugh when she remembers the funny moments she had with her friends. "Yeah," she replied. Then she pull herself together and calmed down. "I'm excited. Though, I'm not very sure about the criteria of being worthy of welding these new powers. It feels a bit arbitrary. At least, that's what I think it is."

Sonic leans back on his chair. "Well, who knows what the criteria will be," he said. "Maybe we'll have to perform some crazy deed to the people in order to be considered worthy. Maybe we'll have to prove directly that we'll be worthy. Or maybe we'll be tasked with recovering an artifact associated with the ancient tribe."

Rainbow chuckled at the suggestions Sonic made. "I wouldn't count on that," she said before continuing to chuckle.

Sonic then joined Rainbow ins having a little chuckled at the ridiculous suggestions he made about the criteria of returning as rangers.

"See you, sometime soon, Sonic," Rainbow said, smiling. "I have to meet up with Twilight to properly introduce her to her new school. I'm sure that she'll be excited."

"See you soon, Rainbow," Sonic said back. "I can't believe that it's been one full year since we got our original powers. I wonder what the power rings or power crystals are doing sitting in the museum. Anyway, hope you have a great day."

* * *

What happened to the original ranger powers? Ever since the Ringrangers and Equingers were no more, most of the morphers have been dismantled into their components, while the items used to activate the ranger mode were donated to a museum.

There's a segment on the news which tells watchers about the recent events.

"It's been eight months since the rangers of Columbia have been defeated and went into hiding," the reporter said, reminding everyone. "Since then, there have been no other monster attacks reported in the country since. In fact, there has been only eight reported monster attacks since the beginning of the year."

The camera cuts to a scene of a laboratory who asked to borrow the rings and crystals for research. There is still a lot of mystery surrounding these things.

"Scientists have tried long and hard to find a way to extract the stored power of the power rings and crystasl, but so far, nothing has been achieved. There is still very little information surrounding the origins of these powerful objects, leaving many to believe that they came from someplace else. However, some has therorized these objects may have been crafted only a few hundred years ago with very inefficient techniques compared to the Ancient Tribe of Columbia.

"Even without their ranger powers, the defends of our country continue to serve our home whenever possible. Their most recent action is saving the Columboa Games Junior League from extinction, by reminding their fans that the event existed."

* * *

Stuff is packed, and she is ready for her first full day at the school she's transferred to. A new and exciting year awaits Twilight as she stands in front of the doors of Canterlot High School. After negotiations made by her parents, Twilight is finally ready to walk the hallways of a safer environment. They say that misery builds a person, but in Twilight's case misery completely broke her to the point were she can no longer stand to step foot into her former school. The environment was too toxic for people like her.

Joining Twilight is Rainbow Dash, who is tasked by Principal Celestia to help introduce the school to Twilight. Even though Twilight has been there already, she needs a refresher on what her new school is like.

"Welcome Twilight to your new school," Rainbow introduces as she and Twilight walk on the front courtyard. They stop in front of the main doors. "Canterlot High School!"

Twilight looks around the courtyard. She has forgotten how large the school is since her last visit there.

"Thanks to the introduction," Twilight replied. "I've been through a lot over the past several months. From escaping the toxic environment of my old school to being dragged in into what you and your friends are doing...it's been a crazy summer, I had to admit it."

"Well, all good things must come to an end," Rainbow said, "and with the end of one chapter comes the beginning of another."

Twilight gazes at Rainbow, wondering what she meant when she said that. "Do you mean, the end of this summer chapter and the beginning of the next school year chapter?" she asks, wondering how she should interpret Rainbow's message.

"It's not just that," Rainbow answers. "The end of our transition chapter is coming to an end. I suspect that us returning as rangers is not far off."

"Really?" Twilight asks.

Rainbow turns around and stares at the area where her first mission as a ranger took place. "I'm sure of it," she said. Then she wraps her arm around Twilight's neck. "And I'll bet that since you're a part of my team-well, Sonic's and my team-you'll become a ranger just like us. Saving the world one monster at a time."

Twilight perked up for a moment. "Really?" she asks. "That's great! I-" Then old memories start to hit her. "Oh...oh dear..." Twilight turned away from Rainbow, pushing her aside.

"What's wrong?" Rainbow asks.

Twilight sighs as she stares in the direction of Downtown Canterlot City, where her former school is located. "It's been a while since I left my old high school," she answers, "and yet...those memories still haunt me."

Berating voices echo in Twilight's head as she remembers the times she has spent within the walls of Crystal Prep Academy. They weren't pleasant. Also, her transformed monster self is still haunting her. It seems like Twilight is going through even more throughout the summer than previously thought.

"What?" Rainbow gasps. "So you're having nightmares?"

Twilight shrivels as she recalls her moments there. "I tried very hard to forget," she responded, "but it seems like the harder I try, the more of these...freakish memories came back to me. And just as when I forgot them, they came back to me." She slumps on the stairs leading up to the front entrance. "It seems like I can't escape my dark days."

Rainbow smiles and sits down next to Twilight, comforting her. "Cheer up, Twilight." she reassures her new friend. "You have us, a team that cares for you. A group of friends that will respect you. And don't worry. No matter what comes, I'll be here with you."

Twilight turns towards Rainbow, a little smile growing on her face.

Then she rest of Rainbow's friends showed up one by one.

"So will I," Thunder said as he stepped in.

Pinkie jumped into the courtyard. "And me!" she added.

Fluttershy came in and comforted Twilight even further. "We'll always be there for you and each other."

Soon, Rainbow and Twilight found themselves surrounded by the rest of their friends.

Rainbow and Twilight stood up. Then Rainbow turns to Twilight, spotting a smile growing on her face.

"Welcome to The Rainbooms, Twilight," Rainbow said.

Twilight's little smile grew into a big one. "Thanks for the comfort, everyone," she said.

And with that, The Rainbooms have officially gained their seventh member, matching in group size to their allied group, Team Sonic. Two separate groups of seven that turns into a group of fourteen when the two teams come together.

To celebrate this occasion, Pinkie knew exactly what to do. She stand up high, with her arms spread out. "Group hug!" she shouted as she wrapped her arms around everyone.

Rainbow found herself squeezed between several friends. "Gah!" she wheezed. "Pinkie!"

* * *

Just like last year, Aleena is taking her boys to school via her car, parking at the same place as last year. In the employees only spot, she parks in her designated parking space, with a clear view of the school she's in charge on.

Sonic leaned back on his seat. "I'll miss summer even more than last year," he yawned. "I have gained so many friends from distant places, but I guess we'll have to stop hanging out with them. At least we have someway to talk to them."

"It's a good thing that you and your friends have set up a chatroom," Aleena said. "You may no longer see each other's faces, but that doesn't excuse you from interacting with them. Life might be getting in the way, but there is still time to have a chat with each other over long distances. Anyway, I hope that yo boys enjoy the new chapter of your lives."

Manic snapped when he heard that. "Wait, new chapter of our lives?" he asks, wondering what Aleena meant. "We haven't even graduated! Heck, Knuckles is just one year ahead of us and he still has one more year before he graduates into higher education."

Aleena giggled at the misinterpretation. "I don't mean that," she said. "I mean the beginning of a new chapter of your side missions. A new age of you as rangers and defenders of our country. Your new powers are not far off from your grasp, I suspect. I hope you get your new ranger powers sometime soon.

"Considering that we might have enemies coming soon, this is a great time to receive our new powers," Sonic remarks. "After all, if normal people can't stand up to them without being crushed, then it might be a great time for us to show up."

Aleena smiled at her boys. "Good luck with your sophomore year in high school," she told them. "I'm sure that great things will come."

Sonic smiled back. "You two, Principal Aleena," he said.

The trio then got off the car, heading towards Emerald High School.

* * *

Over the next several days, Team Sonic and The Rainbooms continue to operate separately, with occasional visits to each other. They often keep in touch by using chatrooms or phone calls as they often don't have time for visits but do have time for indirect contact. They mostly use the chatroom to catch each other up or discuss their new ranger powers.

For the last several days of school since the year began, Sonic has been on the lookout for anything suspicious that may interfere with his day. Only now does the rest of the team catch what he is doing. They're in the lunchroom when it happened.

Miles noticed that Sonic is spending the time chewing looking around the lunchroom as if he's a mobile, sentient security camera. "Umm, Sonic?: he beings asking. "What are you doing?"

"Hearing out for anything suspicious on campus," Sonic answers. "Who knows when the monsters will strike again."

Knuckles swallowed his food. "Sonic, peace has returned to the country for a long time at this point," he said. "I'm sure that we'll be fine for the next several days."

Sonic looks back at his friends. "So?" he asks. "We were told that the monsters will be coming back soon, and this time they have someone who is commanding them to do these horrible things. Not these troublemaking rogues that we dealt with last year. We have an evil team on our heels."

Amy sighs, "Well, we're going to be getting our new powers sometime soon," she said, trying to reassure Sonic. "There's no need to worry. Besides, what's gotten into you? You've been on the look out for the last several days. What gives?"

"We've been looking out for those monsters, Amy," Espio answers. "He's not doing this alone."

The team turns their attention towards Espio, noticing that he too is searching the cafeteria and outside for anything suspicious.

"It's just the two of you who are doing this," Manic observes, "am I right?"

Espio looks back at his friends and shook his head. "Not quite," he answers. "You see, even though we don't see each other as often since the summer has ended, we still communicate with our friends over at Canterlot High via chatrooms. Everyday, we would come to this place and exchange information about what's going on at each other's homes. So far, there has been no monster attacks as of yet."

"Unlike last year when we had a monster attack our school on the first day," Sonic added.

Silver sighs and decides to remind everyone about the latest news. "Haven't you heard?" he said. "The monsters will be coming back soon. Those two enemies of the rangers? Yeah, they might be unleased onto this world soon. We have a few days before we'll have to turn ourselves back into rangers. We'd better get them soon, or else we'll see trouble prop up in our country with no way to stop it."

Something else came into her mind for Amy. "Speaking on that, how is your search for a way to unlock that door over at the temple near Granite Falls?" she asks.

Miles pondered, and realizes that he is one of the team members who is still in touch with his Canterlot City friends. He pulls out a piece of paper takeb from his notebook. "Well," he said, "we've been doing a lot of research recently and I've found this."

Silver lifts himself up to take a better look at the paper. "What's that?" he asks.

"Ooh, what are you guys taking about?" someone said.

Sonic and his team turned to the source of the voice. There, they saw the troublemakers who threatened Rainbow during their visit to Emerald Beach. It's the lean, green one, and the muscular red one.

"Oh, great," Espio sighs. "They're eavesdropping us. Uh, I don't think this is a good place to discuss something like this."

"Take this to the park this afternoon," Miles said as he pocketed his piece of paper. "We'll continue this discussion later."

The two boys came up to Team Sonic's table. "I've heard something about becoming rangers again," the green one said, leaning on the table. "Tell us, when's that going to happen?"

Sonic frowned angrily at the two boys. "None of your business!" he yells as he and the rest of the team moved down their table, away from those two troublemakers.

Sonic sat down next to Miles and groans. "Man, why can't they just ignore us?" he asks.

They decided to not talk about the new ranger powers at this point, as this could garner unwanted attention from those they don't like being around.

* * *

The Rainbooms spends the rest of the afternoon at the park after their time in the lunchroom has run out. They sat around a table discussing several things related to their team and their allies.

"Okay guys," Rainbow began. "I've been chatting with our friends over at Emerald High for the past several days."

"What?" Pinkie yelled. "But didn't you say that we can't see each other as often as before?"

Applejack adjusts her hat. "It's back to the beginning of this year when we first encountered each other," she said. "Along with every month up to the summer months. Sorry about not seeing our friends at Emerald City as often as before."

Pinkie slumps to the table and frowns. "Aww..." she groans

Rarity had just finished putting on makeup. "Cheer up, Pinkie darling," she said. "We have chatrooms set up so that all of us will still be connected, even if we're far away and can't see each other as during the summer months."

Pinkie then perks up with joy. "Yeah!" she shouted.

Rainbow then leans on Twilight. "Twilight, can you tell us what we've found?" she asks.

Twilight then remembers the research notes she collected while outside of the school hours. "Oh, right," she said. She pulls out her research notes for all to see. "You see, we've been digging through archives sent in by our archeologist teachers, trying to find answers. We also did our own research."

"What did you guys find?" Thunder asks.

"Apparently, in the ancient's golden years, they created two swords that harness the power of the two sets of gemstones," Twilight reads. "They are the Chaos Sword and the Harmony Sword. They're supposed to be given to two selected individuals who are tasked with defending their home. However, no one stepped up and claimed the powerful weapons. The two swords therefore got hidden away, waiting for its rightful welders to arrive."

On one section of her paper, there is a rough sketch of what the two swords look like. She didn't bother to label them as she isn't sure which sword is named what.

Applejack takes a look at the research notes. "So?" she said. "What do two swords have to do with getting back our ranger powers?"

Rainbow scoffs at Applejack's inability to get what they mean. "They're linked to the ancient tribe," she replies. "You know, the same ones who created the gems as well as their respective devices?"

Applejack still looks confused, much to Rainbow's frustration.

"According to our findings," Twilight continues, "the ones selected to weld them are supposed to be the same ones entrusted with the wrist devices. At least, in theory."

"So that's it," Thunder realizes. "These swords must be connected to our new ranger powers."

Applejack scratches her head. "But...one question," she brings up. "Where do we find them? They must be around this country somewhere..."

As the team pondered, a plane flew from above their heads. Thrown out of that plane is a letter.

Fluttershy hears the sound of a plane passing by and looks up, only to find a letter floating down towards her. "Wait," she said, pointing to the sky. "What is that thing floating down?"

The other friends looked up and notices a letter floating down. It fell right into Rainbow's hands.

"It's...some sort of invitation," Rainbow answers. Then she begins to open up the letter.

"What's it for?" Pinkie asks. "A party?"

Rainbow opens the letter, only to find something she didn't expect to happen. "Oh my gosh!" she gasped in surprise.

The others stare at Rainbow in confusion.

"Huh? What is that?" Twilight asks.

Rainbow lost her breath for a moment as she is amazed to see what she is invited to. "It's...an invitation..." she said, pausing at each breath. "To the filming of the film adaptation of one of the Daring Do books!"

This surprises the entire team.

"What?" Applejack yells. "Are you kidding me?"

"No! I'm not pranking you!" Rainbow yells back. Then she turns the invitation over to the rest of her friends. "That's what it says on the paper!"

Twilight was at a loss of words. This is a genuine invitation. "No way..." she breathes out, shaking her head slowly.

Rainbow takes a closer look and reads the fine print. "Oh! It says here that I can take in two additional people along with me," she reads. "And that's..."

Pinkie bounced up and down with her hand raised. "Oh! Oh!" she said with excitement. "Me! Me! Me!"

Rainbow reads the fine print and realizes that she doesn't have to choose. "...Twilight Sparkle and Applejack," she reads.

Twilight and Applejack were pretty surprised to see that they were chosen to go with Rainbow to see the production of a movie.

"Uhh…" Twilight said.

"I was expectin' some sort of fightin' within the team," Applejack said.

Rainbow takes a moment to sigh in relief. "Well, at least that's avoided," she said. Then she reads the last few words on the invitation.

"So...where will we be going?" Twilight wonders.

"It says here to go to the Canterlot Movie Studio," Rainbow answers. "...Tomorrow, this weekend." She then lowers the invitation and faces the friends that she'll be bringing along. "Prepare yourself, girls. We're expected to come there soon."

* * *

Sonic is on his way home joined by Miles and Knuckles. It was an unusual day, as no one except for Manic has joined Sonic on his way home. They walk down the sidewalk in the afternoon sun, exhausted by the days of trying to find clues to find their new ranger powers. They've spent the afternoon talking about the new ranger powers before Sonic got bored partway through and decided to leave for home early to take a break.

"Please, Sonic," Miles begged on the way to Sonic's home. "Can we search for these two swords now?"

Sonic sighs in response. "Miles, would you chill please?" he asks. "We've already spent long enough looking for clues. We've already tired ourselves with looking for clues. Do you think now would be a great time to begin searching?"

Miles stopped himself to think. "Um...yeah," he replies.

"I'm pretty sure that we'll have enough time tomorrow to search for the two swords," Sonic said, "and the day after that. Forty-eight hours should suffice."

Miles then tugs on Sonic's vest. "But Sonic!" he whined. "We need to find them now! The monsters could be returning at any moment."

Sonic stopped just in front of his house. "On second thought, maybe we need the help of everyone to help us find them," he said, changing his mind.

"Well, how are you going to convince millions of people to do your bidding?" Knuckles asks.

"It happened once before with gene sequencing," Miles said. "It should work for this case."

During Miles and Knuckles' argument, Sonic notices that he has mail waiting for him. He walks to him mailbox and opens it up. Inside, he finds mail.

"Guys, I have mail in my mailbox," he announces.

Curious, Miles and Knuckles stopped arguing and take a look at Sonic's mail.

"What is it?" Miles asks as Sonic opened up the mail.

Sonic unfolds the paper inside and reads the message. To his surprise...

"Wait a minute..." Sonic said, his eyes widen upon reading the text. "It says that we're invited to the Canterlot Movie Studio to...witness the filming of Darling Do..."

Sonic frowns upon seeing what he's invited to. He has one book of the famous book series, but he can't believe that despite his little commitment in the series, he and two of his friends were still invited to the filming of a film adaptation of one of the books.

"Wait, Daring Do?" Miles said, something coming to his mind. "I've heard of that before. The author have a connection with Rainbow, am I right?"

Sonic did not answer Miles question and instead focus on the fine print at the bottom. "And it says here that we're going there...tomorrow," he reads, much to the surprise of Miles and Knuckles. "And there's a note saying that there is something they wanted to show us. Or in this case, me."

Miles and Knuckles waited for a response from Sonic.

"Sonic..." Miles said, grabbing on to Sonic's shoulder. "Are you saying-"

Sonic lowered the invitation. "Boys," he said to his two friends. "Get your cards ready by tomorrow. We're going to Canterlot City once again in perhaps a while."

 **[End of Episode]**

* * *

 **From the Author:**

Here it is! The penultimate episode of the transition season. It's been on year since the publication of this episode that I published the first version of the first episode of Gemranger. A lot has changed since then. From being an ambitious crossover of several series and franchises to a simpler crossover between two franchises with elements of a third, I've changed my plans for the series in the hundreds of days since I began.

We're about to come back to the very first episode of the first season of Gemranger. Or is it the second? The third? I don't know. I produced that series before I began production on the prequals. I know. Very weird to produce something that came before the main story chronologically after you've made the main story.

New Gemranger episodes will be produced shortly after the final episode of this series went live. See you when we come to the beginning of it all.

* * *

Written by TheAPPstore

Sonic the Hedgehog characters property of Sega

My Little Pony characters property of Hasbro


	20. Movie Set Mystery

**Episode 20**

 **"Movie Set Mystery"**

* * *

They may not be rangers yet, but they're getting close to it. The final episode of the transition season comes to a close.

During a visit to the filming of the film adaptation of Rainbow Dash's favorite series of novels, several props go missing as well as the two swords. While the swords are not planned to be used in the film, the other three will be. With the movie now threatened, it's up to the team to search and find the props and the perpetrator before it's too late. Along the way, the film encounters more setbacks. It's as if someone is actively sabotaging the production of the movie.

Adaptation of the Equestria Girls special, "Movie Magic"

* * *

 **[Beginning of Episode]**

The film begins with Daring Do walking down the hallways of her organization's headquarters, frustrated about something.

"Man, I'm running out of things to do around here," Daring Do grumbled. "I'm not getting as many tasks as I would like. Maybe I should retire from adventuring and start a-"

"So, are you saying that whoever drank the nectar of the Eternal Flower, they'll be granted eternal life?" someone said from a door.

Daring Do stopped when she heard something. "What?" she said. Then she walked up to the door to eavesdrop.

Inside the room are two people. One has spiky blue hair and is wearing tan clothing. A brown handkerchief is wrapped around his neck. The other has rainbow hair, donning similar clothes to Darling Do.

"Yes," the boy said. "But here's the catch. I've gathered research about this flower, and it's located in perhaps the most fitting place in the world. The Eternal Kingdom."

The girl was surprised when she heard this. "The Eternal Kingdom?" she asks.

The boy placed his papers down on the table. "Yes," he confirms. "The Eternal Kingdom is a place where the medieval period never ends. It lives on forever, never to change."

The girl looked skeptical when she hears that there's a place that never went past the medieval age. "How does one do that?" she asks. "Preserve an entire kingdom for generations to come, never to change?"

"I suspect that it has something to do with the Eternal Flower," the boy answers.

Daring Do is curious. This looks like a mission she can take. "So, to find the Eternal Flower, I need to find the Eternal Kingdom" she told herself. "Hmm, that seems ripe for adventure."

The two people in the room heard someone talk from outside. "Huh?" the boy asks. "Who's there?"

Daring Do, realized that she is about to be questioned by her coworkers, ran off towards the command room. She cannot wait to tell her agent this.

"Cut!" the director called.

The filming the scene ends. It turns out that Sonic and Rainbow are cast as guest stars providing exposition. Daring Do is really played by acclaimed actress Chestnut, a woman who is also the head of a animal welfare organization. Meanwhile, the rest of their friends are taking a seat, witnessing the filming of one of the most important scenes in the movie.

Canter Zoom is the director of the movie, getting the seal of approval from A. K. Yearling herself. "That was a good shot," he congratulates as he stand up, clapping his hands. "Guest stars, get out of position."

Chestnut removes her wig she uses to portray Darling Do. Meanwhile, Sonic and Rainbow got out of the room, still wearing the adventure outfits provided by the costume department.

Rainbow took off her hat to brush her hair with her hand.

"I was getting tired of wearing this on all day," Sonic said, slapping on the ends of his handkerchief. "Can I take it off?"

"Not for the duration of this visit," Canter answers.

Sonic and Rainbow had a blank look on their faces as Rainbow puts the hat back on her head.

* * *

The film is an adaptation of Daring Do and the Eternal Flower, the second book in the Storybook Trilogy.

Rainbow had nothing but excitement inside her as she and her friends walk down the studio. "I can't believe that we're personally invited to the filming of my favorite series ever made!" she said. "This is so exciting."

Sonic smiled as he sees that Rainbow is enjoying the visit. "Not only that, but the director has put us into guest appearances," he added. "But instead of making us cameo in one scene, he gave us a role in the film."

Rainbow then got up to Sonic, appearing even more cheerful. "I know," she replies. "So awesome!"

"I've got to say," Canter said to the visitors. "Given that you guys are famous around these places, I figure that giving you a cameo appearance won't do you justice. You've got to have some sort of significant role. Though, given that you guys are only visiting for at most the entire weekend, I can only offer you guys a brief appearance."

"And you didn't even give us a script!" Sonic yelled. "You only gave us the premise of the scene and tell us to do whatever we please. You forced us to improvise what we are saying."

The group laughed at the fact that Sonic and Rainbow had to improvise the dialogue for their part in the movie.

Canter laughed along as well. "Well, I couldn't get a script in for you guys before you came," he said. "Hey, how about we take you to where our special props are? I have something to show you. Come! Follow me!"

Canter was about to lead the group to one of the sets, but then a crew member stopped him.

"Mr. Zoom!" the crew member notified. "We have encountered an issue! They have misplaced Daring Do's armor for the final confrontation!"

Canter Zoom looked at his film crew for a moment. "Give us one moment, please?" he reminds. And then he takes the visitors to the next part of the tour.

* * *

The set is a walled castle grounds. There are three castle walls surrounding the set, forming a hexagon. In the middle is a pedestal in which there are three items. These are the props that will be used for the film. Next to the pedestal are two swords. One is yellow, the other is white. Both are glowing and have protective beams surrounding the grip.

"These props that you're seeing here are the three important props that play a significant role in the movie," Canter introduces. "The Compass of Time, the Annual Leaf, and the star of the movie, the Eternal Flower. That last one is a hand made prop. The other two were from Ms. Yearling herself." He then looks at the visitors and noticed that they have a confused look. "What?"

Applejack squinted at the props mentioned. "You sure that's correct?" she asks. "Cause' I counted five over there."

Canter looks back and realizes that he forgot to mention the swords. "Oh. These are the two swords that are brought in by Ms. Yearling," he explains. "She said that they are important to you guys...somehow."

Rainbow stepped forward, observing the swords. She has her eye on the white sword, however.

"Huh?" Sonic blurted. "If they're important, why didn't she send them directly to our houses?"

"The delivery guy figure that bringing a sharp object to someone's house may not be the smartest move to make," Canter explains. "Something could get destroyed."

Sonic was baffled by the strange decision. "Well, what does she expect us to do?" he asks. "Swing it around our houses?"

Rainbow reached her hand out to grab the white sword. But before she can touch it, a voice spoke in her head. "Ahh!" she shrieked, not expecting the sword to talk.

The visitors and Canter turn their attention towards Rainbow as she freaks out about a strange phenomenon.

"What's wrong?" Twilight asks.

Rainbow turns her head around, looking freaky. "I think I hear some voices," she said. "Am I going crazy?"

The others had nothing to say.

"Phew," Rainbow sighed in relief. "It's nothing. Good."

Concerned about his friend, Sonic approached Rainbow. "Um, Rainbow?" he begins to ask. "You sure you're okay?"

"I see that you have taken a great interest in these props," someone said.

The visitors turned around and spotted a girl with two ponytails pinned by film reel pins.

"Who are you?" Miles asked the girl.

Canter takes notice of the girl. "Oh!" he said, approaching her. "She's my niece."

"Hello!" the girl greeted. "I'm Juniper! Pleased to meet you!" She shakes the hand of Rainbow as she introduces herself.

"She's a avid fan of Daring Do," Canter noted.

"Oh. Just like us," Twilight replies. Then she noticed that she got some looks from her friends. "Oops, sorry. Admitted that I was a fan."

"So, what do you do here?" Knuckles asks.

"I usually bring in food for the crew and actors between shots," Juniper answers. "I've been helping my uncle out for every movie that he directs. Usually, after school, he takes me here to help him out. I am here for so often that I often do my homework right here. And since I'm here nearly all the time, I know the ins and outs of this place like the back of my hand."

The group stares at Juniper for a moment. "Okay..." Twilight remarks. "That's a little unusual."

"Now take care, guys," Canter said as he got ready to leave. "I have a scene to shoot in a moment. Don't do anything suspicious."

Canter leaves the building in search for another set.

As soon as Canter leaves, Juniper got an idea. "Hey, do want to see what Caballeron's mobile base looks like?" she asks. "I can take you there." She reaches into her pockets and pulled out a set of keys. "After all, I've got keys to every door of this place, including the actor trailers!" She then grabs Rainbow's arm and begins to drag her outside.

"Hey!" Rainbow yelled as she got dragged along. "Let go of my arm!"

"We're right behind you, Rainbow!" Sonic shouted as he and the rest of the group go after Juniper.

* * *

The group enters a set of mobile homes which serve as the operating base for Dr. Caballaron and his men. The group enters one of them, which happens to be Dr. Caballaron's mobile home.

"Enjoy the view!" Juniper gleefully said. "I have a food run coming up right now. These crew are getting hungry! See you soon!"

Juniper then ran out of the set.

The group walks through the mobile home. It's a dusty mess. There are things on the floor, the walls is dirty, and the mobile home is in a bit of a depreciated state.

"Whoa!" Rainbow said, awed by the looks of the place. "This is how they envision what Dr. Caballeron's base looks like?"

Applejack looks around the mobile homes, noting their rather poor living conditions. "That looks rather rusty for a villain," she said.

Twilight rubs her hand on the walls. "I'm pretty sure they designed it like that because Caballeron is a struggling rival archeologist," she said. "I mean, can he ever afford something more elaborate?"

"Yeesh," Rainbow said. "No wonder he's so bitter towards Daring Do. She'd stole his paycheck!"

Twilight recalls the details pertaining to the main antagonist of Daring Do. "Now, he is turning towards more sinister means to get his money," she said. "He's so desperate that he'll do anything just to feed himself and his men."

The boys and Applejack look at Twilight with confused looks. They're not as avid fans of Daring Do as Rainbow or Twilight.

"What?" Twilight shrugs, looking at the boys. "That's what I've heard from the books."

The group spends a few more minutes looking around the set. Then Rainbow decides that she has enough. "Yeah, I think I have enough with these dusty mobile homes," she said, grossed out by the smell. "I'll just...take a look at the props once more. And those swords." She then runs away from the set, remembering the direction Juniper took to take them here.

"You're thinking that maybe she is getting obsessed with these swords?" Knuckles asks.

"I don't know," Sonic answers. "They could be the key to our ranger problem."

"Yeah," Applejack replies, "but how can two swords serve as the key to our answer? No one has ever welded them!"

Miles pondered for a moment. "Unless..." he said.

Just then, Rainbow burst out of the door, looking panicked. Following behind her is Juniper.

"Guys!" Rainbow yelled, running up to her friends. "We have an emergency! They're all gone!"

The group got confused when Rainbow screamed this. "What's gone?" Sonic asks.

Juniper catches up to Rainbow. "The props!" she answered.

Shocked by this, the entire rest of the group gasped.

* * *

Emergency calls were sent and the entire crew was summoned to the scene of the crime. They're in the castle outdoors set, but this time the special props were now missing. In addition, the two swords were no longer there.

"I swear!" Rainbow yelled to the others. "They were right here a minute ago!"

"Not only that," Miles noted, "but the swords have disappeared as well!"

"This can't be happening!" Canter exclaimed.

Applejack asks the director a question. "Can't we contact the prop department to make new ones?" she asks.

Canter partially shook his head. "The Eternal Flower, yes," he answers. "The others. not so much. They're actual treasures sent in my Ms. Yearling to use in our movie. We can't get more from her without her approval!"

This perks Rainbow's hears up. "Oh! Maybe you should contact her," she suggests.

Canter must think that Rainbow is crazy. "Are you kidding me?" he asks. "She lives somewhere far from anyone else. And she is a busy person. You think that she would have time to approve the use of two more of her collected treasures just because we lost two of them?"

Rainbow was silenced by the response she got.

Twilight groans. "Well, at least things couldn't get any worse than this, right?" she said.

Just then, the set walls fell on their backs, creating a crashing sound of wood impacting and splintering.

Sonic takes a look at the collapsed set. "Oh. I know!" he said, getting an answer. "Set failure."

Canter groans in frustration. "This set was just fine yesterday," he said. "Why did it collapse right now? This could set us back days. I need a lunch break. The stress is killing me. Juniper!"

Juniper hesitated to respond. "R-right, uncle."

The crew then leaves to search for the missing props, leaving the visitors alone in the crime scene.

While the group was left alone in the crime scene, Twilight recalls everything that happened during their stay at the studio. "There was a costume that went missing," she recalls, "a set has collapsed, and several props went missing. Something tells me that we have a mystery on our hands."

Miles got a little excited when he hears that he has a mystery for the group to solve. "Oh! I love mysteries," he said gleefully. "They're so fun to solve."

"It's more of a crime investigation than a mystery," Applejack reminded. "If Silver were here, he would've gone real mad if he saw this happening. Anyway, we'd better solve this thing soon. We don't have much time to spend here."

"Yeah! We have a movie to save!" Rainbow said with enthusiasm. Then that enthusiasm turns into groans. "From several weeks of production nightmare. Seriously. The fans are going to be so mad when they hear that this movie falling behind schedule."

"We'd better split up and investigate," Twilight suggests. "That way, we can find things a little bit faster. We'll split up into three pairs. Who wants to pair up?"

Sonic looks around and notices that Rainbow is looking at him. He knows that he's around this girl longer than he would like to admit, so he brings something unexpected. He turns towards Knuckles. "Huge twist!" he announces. "I'm not working with Rainbow this time. I'll be working with Knuckles over here." He wraps his arms around Knuckles' neck, reaching up to him.

Knuckles turns around and looks down at Sonic, who decides to team up with him this time. "Hey!" he growls.

Sonic gazes at Knuckles. "What?" he asks. "I need a break from her from time to time. You can't expect me to work with one single person every time."

"Well, if you say that he works with you, then I'll be working with Rainbow over here," Applejack decides.

Rainbow does not object to this decision.

"That leaves me with," Twilight concludes, only to realize that the only one left were the little Miles. "Oh..."

* * *

After the team split up, Twilight and Miles decides to head off towards Chestnut's trailer, as that's her current location.

"Chestnut should be around here somewhere," Twilight said as she and Miles stare at the door of the trailer. "She should be in her trailer having lunch. She's an acclaimed actress, so please. Knock on the door before you enter."

Miles walked up the steps and knocked on the door. "Hello?" he asks as he knocks. "Chestnut? It's us. We're here to-"

The door then swings open, sending Miles slamming into the trailer walls. There, Twilight saw Chestnut in her work clothing, but Chestnut doesn't look like she wants to have a chat. She is screaming into her phone.

"Ugh! What is wrong with you?" Chestnut asks an unknown receiver. "This is a joke. I want my contract with you terminated right now!"

She turns off her phone and stomps away, never bating an eye at the visitors.

"Wow," Twilight observes. "She doesn't look very happy to be in...whatever she's talking about."

Twilight turns around and realizes that Miles is left to hang sandwiched between a door and a trailer. She closes the door, only to find Miles stuck to the side.

"My nose..." Miles groans.

Twilight tries really hard not to giggle at Miles' expense.

* * *

Rainbow and Applejack are at the scene of the crime, wondering how did the walls of the set fall. Applejack got her rope and tied it down on one end while Rainbow heads towards the top end of the wall.

"Alright, Applejack," Rainbow said, grabbing on the set wall. "Get ready to lift."

"No. You get ready to lift," Applejack insisted.

Rainbow stares at her friend and scoffs. "Fine," she decides. "We both get ready to lift."

Applejack pulls back on her rope wile Rainbow lifts the wall up. They continued to do this until the wall of the set is back in its rightful place.

Applejack walks behind the set wall, where Rainbow in kneeling on something. "See anything?" she asks.

Rainbow stares at the ground and spotted a splintered block of wood. She picks it up and shows it to the light. "I don't think splintered wood is a part of building a set," she said. "Right?"

Applejack then inspects the block of wood, noticing that there's a small depression on one of the side. "I'd bet that someone kicked these...supporting...beams out and made the set walls fall," she observes.

"Someone in here is trying to trash the sets," Rainbow concluded.

"Keep a hold of that," Applejack suggests. "We may need to present the evidence should we catch the culprit."

Applejack walks away to find the rest of the friends, leaving Rainbow to wonder how she could store an arm sized block of wood in her pockets.

* * *

In another building, Sonic and Knuckles are going behind the scenes to search for clues about the whereabouts of the props. Along the way, they passed by several crew members who decided to help with the search.

"See anything?" Sonic asks as he walked around.

"Still no signs of the props or the swords," Knuckles reported.

Sonic stops in his tracks. "Well, they have to be around here somewhere," he said. "I don't think the thief has enough time to bring them out of the studio grounds."

"Even if they could, security would still spot them in the middle of escaping the studio," Knuckles added. "So they must be around here somewhere."

While they're wondering about where these missing props could possibly be, someone had apparently broken into the fuse box and shut off the power for this particular building. This leaves everyone in the dark, shrieking and gasping as the lights suddenly go out.

"Ahh!" Knuckles screams when the lights go off.

Sonic jumped when he finds himself in the dark. "What was that?"

"Did the lights get shut down?" Knuckles asks, looking up towards where the ceiling is.

Someone is definitely sabotaging the production of the movie. Now they're cutting power to these buildings, leaving everyone inside in the dark. This has to be another clue. He must tell the others about this,

"Quickly, Knuckles!" Sonic yelled. "Let's get out of here!"

"Right!" Knuckles agreed. Then he retraced his steps and ran towards the nearest exit, arms flailing in the air. "Ahhhhh!"

Apparently, if you're in the dark, you can't see anything. Knuckles tripped over a wire and fell on his chest. Another loud thud is then heard. Apparently, Knuckles accidentally broke something.

Sonic facepalms in the dark, groaning over his friend's seemingly increased in competence. "Knucklehead..." he grumbles.

* * *

After searching, the friends and the crew regroup at the crime scene, each bringing in what they noticed.

"Did you guys find anything?" Applejack asks. "We found this laying around at the scene of the crime."

Rainbow shows her friends the splintered block of wood that was found behind one of the collapsed walls.

Canter leans down to take a look at the block of wood that was once a supporting beam. "Oh. That's why the set collapsed," he realized. "What else did you guys find?"

"We tried to contact Chestnut, the actress playing Daring Do," Twilight explains. "She looked angry and stormed out of her trailer without bating an eye at us."

Miles pointed to his bandaged nose. "Also, she slammed the door into my face," he said.

Rainbow shook her head at Twilight. "Well, nothing from here over there," she concludes. Then she turns to Sonic and Knuckles. "What did you two boys find?"

Sonic took a deep breath as he told everyone this. "Someone shut off the lights," he answers.

"I see," Canter observes. "So someone is trying to sabotage the movie production by doing all these things."

"The question is, who?" Applejack asks. "They have to be stupid enough to crawl around the studio in their dark cloak or-"

Just then, a figure in a dark cloak has been spotted making their way behind the scenes.

"You mean like that?" Canter asks, pointing towards the figure.

The figure flinched and began to ran away.

This pumped up Sonic and Rainbow. "Hey!" Rainbow yells. "Get back here you suspicious creep!"

Sonic and Rainbow then sprinted off after the cloaked figure, leaving the rest of their friends behind.

"Wait! Sonic! Rainbow!" Miles yelled at them. "Wait for us!"

Then Miles starts to go after the two athletic teens. Then, Applejack and Knuckles joined in. And then, after a bit of consideration, Twilight joined the chase.

Sonic and Rainbow chased after the cloaked figure around the buildings of the studio. They went behind scene after scene as they continued to chase after the figure. Meanwhile, their friends are following behind them, trying to catch up.

"Time to corner them!" Sonic commanded.

Sonic and Rainbow then parted ways in an attempt to trap the figure in one place so they can catch them.

After a bit of running, the friends stopped. They were tired from running for this long.

"Man, we can't keep up," Applejack gasped. "They're too fast!"

"I think you mean, our suspect is too fast," Miles corrected. "They got ahead of us!"

* * *

Sonic and Rainbow, meanwhile, continued to chase after the cloaked figure. However, they seem to have lost the suspect partway through the chase. The suspect appears to have disappeared somewhere. They still insist that they'll catch them, so they continued on despite the odds being heavily stacked against them.

It appears that the suspects knows the ins and outs of this studio building. There's a lot of hidden side paths that visitors don't even bat an eye. In fact, a lot of the crew members are not aware of the side passages of the buildings. Only the main, commonly used ones are the passages they knew of, so they were unable to help.

* * *

In the back side of the studio, there lays a few cars and a single trailer. Sonic enters the back lot, where not many people, including the crew, have been in.

Sonic looks around the back lot. He swears that he saw the suspect run off towards here. "Where'd you go?" he asks.

He walks around the back lot for a few moments before seeing the only door that was opened. It was the door to the trailer. For some reason, something told him that this is where the suspect has run off to.

"Hmm? In a trailer?" he asks himself.

He then gets inside the trailer, looking through the livable space.

"Where are you?" he asks.

The cloaked figure peeks through a corner and sees that there is an opportunity at their hands. One of the chasers is in a confined space. Pulling out a set of keys, they approached the door and shut it.

Sonic hears the sound of a door being shut and feels the shaking of the trailer. "What?" he asks. Then he looks at the door, only to find it closed. "Hey!" He ran up to the door and tries to open it. But try as he might, the door wouldn't budge. "Hey! Get me out of here you troublemaker!" He slams on the door, begging to be set free from his prison.

Unbeknownst to him, the suspect has invaded his sights and reenters the building. They are now ready to target their next victim.

* * *

Rainbow wanders the rooms of the studio, looking for the suspect that she caught sight off.

"Huh. I swear that they went over that way," she told herself.

There's no one else in the room. Nothing but a bunch of props, equipment, and outfits.

"Hello?" Rainbow called. No response. The room was nerve shaking silent. "Are you there?"

Rainbow's search took her into a supply closet. She searched long and hard for suspect. She swears that she saw them head off in this direction. During her search, she opens up one of the lockers. Inside, she found something that she did not expect. A suit of armor.

"Aww, sweet!" Rainbow said, picking up her prize. "This must be the suit used for the final confrontation!"

The suspect entered the room and noticed that Rainbow is distracted by one of the missing objects. Using this opportunity, they ran up to the door and slammed it shut, leaving Rainbow trapped in the supply closet.

Rainbow hears the sound of doors being slammed shut. "What?" she gasps. She found the doors closed. She ran up to them, but found that they won't budge. "Oh no...I've been tricked!" Rainbow tried pulling, then she tried pushing. None of them worked. She then slams on the doors begging for someone to save her. "Help! Somebody get me out of here!"

* * *

Meanwhile, the other friends were still exhausted from doing that chase. They sat on equipment boxes and on the walls. Director Canter Zoom found them sitting there. He wonders what they've been up to.

"Did you catch the one whose been sabotaging our work?" Canter asks.

It took a moment before any of them responded.

"We've found them," Twilight explains, "but they got away."

"Also, we lost both Sonic and Rainbow," Miles added.

"Oh no," Canter uttered. "Well, take a break for now. I see that you're still tired." He then looks away to ponder. "Now, where did two of out visitors go?"

"Uncle!" They heard Juniper cry out.

Juniper stopped in front of her uncle and the visitors. She appears tired, though for unknown reasons.

Canter turns around and gets angry at his niece. "Juniper, where have you been?" he asks.

"I was helping with the search for the missing props," Juniper answered without hesitation.

"Did you find them?" Canter asks again.

Juniper shook her head. "I didn't find their whereabouts," she answers again.

The visitors groan in frustration. They've search for this long and gotten several crew members to help them. And they still got nothing out of it. No signs of the important props just yet.

"So, what do we do now?" Knuckles asks.

Canter sighs at the visitors. "No idea," he replies. Then he turns his attention at Juniper. "Juniper, continue to search the premises," he ordered.

Juniper happily salutes her uncle. "Yes sir!" she said. And then she ran off to somewhere. The visitors are starting to have an eye for her.

Canter groans. A lot of things have happened to this studio recently. "If we don't get back these props, we might have to cancel production," he mumbles. "The problems we're having could set us back months."

Meanwhile, the whereabouts of both Sonic and Rainbow remains unknown. At least, to the friends.

* * *

Sonic is in the trailer and he does not like it. It looks pretty comfortable as a home, but he has no time to lounge around. He is trapped in here and he neds to find a way to escape. He looks through the entire trailer to find something.

"There has to be a way out," he said as he searched. "I swear. Someone must've left their keys somewhere."

While searching for a key to unlock the door, Sonic opens up a cabinet in the ceiling. There, a glowing, yellow sword falls out and nearly hits Sonic in the head.

"Ah!" Sonic shrieked as the sword fell. "That almost hit me!"

Sonic opened his eyes and saw what nearly hit him. The glow of the sword catches Sonic's eye. There's something about this sword that seems important to him. He picks the sword up.

"This must be one of the two swords that went missing," Sonic concludes as he takes a look at it. Then he takes a look at the door. "Hmm, wonder if I can bust that door..."

Sonic walks up to it with the sword in his hand. He takes one more look at his sword before he swings it.

"Well, here goes nothing," he said. And then, he slashes his sword at the door, creating an explosion that both rocks the trailer and forces the open. Several loose objects get knocked down and fall to the floor.

Sonic is surprised to see that it worked. "Wow!" he shouted. "This sword is powerful! Oh, and sorry whoever owns this trailer." Then, his sword shakes in his hand before disappearing into a trail of gold dust that floated around. He jumped when he saw his sword disappear. "Wha!" he shrieked as he closes his hand at where his sword one was. He then patted himself around his body. "Where did that go?"

* * *

In the supply closet, Rainbow looks around everywhere to try to find a way out. She looks through set pieces, some props, and some crates. She is hoping to find something that can bust the door that's trapping her here, but there's no luck. Her search then brings her to the lockers, where she found a glowing white sword.

"What's this?" she asked as she picks it up. This sword seems familiar to her. "A sword? And it's the same one that I saw earlier."

Rainbow takes in a few more angles of her new sword. Then she looks at the closet door. "Hmm..." Rainbow pondered. "I wonder if..."

She then walks up to the door that's trapping her in here. "Well, so long, door," she said.

Rainbow took a swing of her sword at the door, forcing it open in a blast. As the dust settles, Rainbow found herself free and surprised that it worked.

"It worked!" Rainbow cheers, jumping for joy. "It really worked! I just freed myself from that tight little closet!"

In her celebration, Rainbow's sword shook in her hands before disappearing in a trail of white dust.

"Huh?" Rainbow said as she realized that her sword is gone. "Hey, where did my sword go?" She checks her pockets to see where it went, but she cannot find a clue about her new sword. She then turns her attention to the armor used for the final confrontation. This is one of the items that was reported to me missing when she an her friends arrived here, so she figure that she should take it with her.

* * *

Everyone regroups behind one of the scenes to report their findings, and so far they've gotten nothing. Canter is getting increasingly frustrated with the important props going missing and the mishaps that are happening around the sets. The visitors and his niece watched as he slowly goes mad from the setbacks.

"This is turning into a nightmare," Canter whines as he walks around. "If we can't find our saboteur, we might have to cancel this movie. All those months of hard work, gone into waste!"

"I'm sure that we'll catch the saboteur sometime soon," Juniper assures everyone, quietly laughing at the end.

"Guys!" Rainbow yelled from far away.

The friends' ears perked up when they heard that voice. They turned to the source and finds Sonic and Rainbow coming towards them. In Rainbow's hands is a costume. The friends smiled, both in joy and in relief. Except for Juniper, who seems quite surprised.

"Where have you two been?" Miles asks them. "We're getting worried about you when you disappeared."

"I was chasing that suspicious person, when I found myself in a closet," Rainbow explains. "Then, I got locked inside!"

"What did you find?" Twilight asks.

Rainbow presents the armor. "I found this," she answers. "And a sword."

Canter leans down to take a closer look. "This is the missing costume?" he asks. Rainbow nodded, confirming that it was the armor used for the final confrontation with the main villain. "How did it get all the way there?" he asks.

Rainbow shrugs. "I don't know," she replies.

Applejack takes a closer look at Rainbow, and sees that even though that Rainbow has mentioned finding a sword, a sword was nowhere to be found in her possession. "Hey, you said that you found a sword," she said.

"I found it," Rainbow explains, "and then it disappeared as soon as I used it."

Well that explains why Rainbow does not have a sword despite finding one and using it.

Miles walked up to Sonic. "What about you Sonic?" he asks.

"Someone trapped me in a trailer," Sonic answers. "Then I found a sword in the cabinet and used it to free myself. Then it disappeared."

This again, Miles thought. It seems like the two swords found near the beginning of their tour has more things they didn't know about. "Anything else?" he asks.

"That's all," Sonic answers. "I've found no sign of the props there."

Canter groans, as even in obscure places that nobody really visits, the missing props were not placed there. "Well, we're getting nowhere if we keep on doing this," he said. "Might as well give up." Then he turns to Juniper to ask her to do a favor. "Juniper, get some smoothies for us. All this sleuthing is making everyone thirsty."

Juniper got distracted with her inner thoughts and snapped back into reality when she saw her uncle talk to her. "Oh," she replied. "Absolutely!" And then she ran away for something.

Something just seems off about Juniper. She keeps on disappearing, distracts them with some other scenes, and mentions two things that serves as pointers to her. This ticks off Twilight. She is getting suspicious of Juniper.

"Hey, wait a minute," Twilight realizes. "Doesn't your niece look a bit suspicious to you?"

"Oh no," Canter realizes. "Don't you mean-"

* * *

The clocked person runs around the storage areas and runs up to a crate. They lean down and grab the three props. The Compass of Time, the Annual Leaf, and the Eternal Flower. The person flicks back the hood as they smiled at the props, revealing that it was Juniper all along.

"Got ya, varmint!" Applejack said.

Juniper jumped and dropped the props. She turns around only to find that the visitors and her uncle were there. "Uhh..." she began to say. Then her attention turns to the props on the floor and picks them up, presenting them. "Look! I've found the missing props! Am I amazing or what?"

"You would be amazing for finding them out," Miles said, "if you didn't know their location beforehand."

Juniper realizes that she is caught and drops the props once again.

"Juniper, how could you?" Canter asks.

"I..." Juniper opened her mouth. But she hesitated. She was going to admit that she is the one who sabotage the production of the movie but couldn't/

"And not only did you steal them, you also did this," Rainbow said. Then she pulls out a block of wood found at the collapsed set.

Juniper was surprised that they found one of the evidence. "What?" she gasped. "How did you find that block of wood? That wall hid it well!:

"And you shut off the power in one of the buildings," Sonic added.

Juniper was surprised again.

"And by the way," Miles began, putting on his angry look. "How did you manage to out run Sonic and Rainbow even though they are clearly fast than you?"

Juniper remembered that she told them something. She knows the place like the back of her hand. She knows her way around this place. They don't. That's why she was able to outrun her chasers, even if they can beat her in a footrace.

"Also, how did you trapped them in a trailer and a closet?" Twilight asks. "No one in this building has the keys to both of those things Nobody, except for..."

Juniper, in her horror, pulls out a set of keys that gives her access to every every building on this place, including the actor trailers. Her hand shakes as she watches the keys dangle. "No..." she said, realizing that they've caught her as the culprit.

Canter had enough of this and swipes the keys out of Juniper's hands. "Juniper!" he yells. "What would you do such a thing to my movie?"

"Uncle, I'm sorry!" Juniper apologizes. "I was trying to prove a point!"

"What point?" Canter roared.

Juniper was up on her uncle as she yells at him. "I convinced you over and over and over again to cast me as Daring Do," she said. "And you would not let me!"

"Why would he cast you?" Rainbow asks, infuriated that someone tried to pose as her favorite character. "You look nothing like Daring Do! You're supposed to be a fan of her, remember?"

"By the way, how old are you?" Sonic interrogates. "You don't look much older than me."

Juniper slumps in place, defeated by these visitors. "But...how did you guys figure out that it was me?" she asks.

* * *

Juniper can't stand Chestnut. She doesn't understand why she was chosen to portray Daring Do instead of her. Her frustrations grew and grew until she could not stand anymore. During production of Daring Do and the Eternal Flower, she would do minor things such as shutting down the lights or set the lightning the wrong way. But these eventually cumulated into doing some major damage to the production.

During the visitor's tour of the studio, Juniper stole the costume for the final confrontation and hid them somewhere. She then took the props and the swords and hid them somewhere. During the visitor's search for answers, Juniper broke into the power box and shut off the power for the building that the boys were searching. As she was being chased by Sonic and Rainbow, Juniper used her knowledge of the studio's layout and tricked them into being trapped in confined areas, the same rooms where she hid the swords.

At every opportunity, Juniper would take the props and take them someplace else. She doesn't have enough time to take them off the lot, so she hid them in various places around the studio. She also knows that the crew is also searching for them.

To help her get by unnoticed, Juniper packed a cloak that allows her to remain hidden in the shadows, so that she can move around without drawing suspicion. Her face and body is usually covered, making it hard to anyone to figure out that it was her all along.

However, she was eventually caught.

* * *

"Face it, Juniper," Twilight said. "There is no way that you'll be getting that role anytime soon."

Canter walks up to his niece. "Juniper..." he angrily calls.

Juniper looks up to uncle, trying to give him eyes of innocence. "Forgive me, please?" she begged.

Canter got angry at his niece. "Not only did you jeopardize the production of my movie, but you also trapped guests, damaged sets, shut off the power, and worst of all, you've been doing this behind my back and took advantage of my trust! And I'm sorry, Juniper, but I cannot forgive you for doing all of this. You are now banned from entering this studio until you earned your degree in filmography!" He then snaps his fingers to call the security.

Juniper then gets dragged out the door by a couple of security people. "Curse you guyyyyyyysss!" she screams as she was dragged away.

The visitors watched as Juniper disappears behind the door.

Canter was relieved that this crisis is solved. "Phew," he said, "Now that it's over, we can resume production without complications. Assuming that Chestnut does not terminate her contract with us."

"There you are!" Chestnut said as she walked in. "I was looking all over for you."

Canter watches as Chestnut approaches him. "Oh. Hey there, Chestnut," he greeted. "How's it going?"

"I got worried when I discovered that my documentary was about nests and not my organization for homeless animals," Chestnut explains. "I had to contact my agent to end that one as soon as he can."

The fact that Chestnut was called in to do a documentary on something that does not deserve one hour of analysis puts some strange looks on the visitor's faces, especially Sonic's.

"So, does that mean-" Canter asks.

"No more scheduling conflicts!" Chestnut declares. "I can continue to work on this move for as long as the production calls for."

Canter smiles as he sees that Chestnut will be staying here with the crew for the remainder of the film production. "Thanks Chestnut," he said. "And you can thank these teens for helping me figure it out."

Chestnut then walks away to get her Daring Do outfit. Meanwhile, Canter sets his eyes on Sonic and Rainbow.

"You two," Canter said. "You must be the people mentioned in Ms. Yearling's letter to me. Well, I have something to show you as well." He then snaps his fingers to call a security guard.

The security guard walks in carrying a case. Canter then open it up, revealing two watches. One is cobalt blue, the other is metallic cyan. Both of which glowed in the presence of their chosen welder.

Everyone was amazed when they saw them in their own eyes, "Whoa!" Miles gasped. "What are those?"

"She mentions that these are supposed to be your new ranger morphers," Canter explains. "She said that she found them outside the temple where watches like these are supposed to be found."

Sonic grabbed the blue watch and placed it on his right wrist. Rainbow grabbed the cyan watch and places it in her right wrist. The watches get turned on as soon as they are equipped by their chosen welder.

Twilight takes a look at the watches. "How do they got out of there?" she asks.

"I have no clue," Canter answers. "Ms. Yearling refuses to give me an answer. But what I've got from her is that it is time for you guys to return as rangers. But it will not be easy. Most of the watches like these are still inside that temple. You're going to have to retreve them there. I'll get a pilot to take you there. Get yourselves ready."

Canter leaves to call someone to take Sonic and Rainbow there. Meanwhile, the rest of the visitors stay to continue to witness the production of the movie.

* * *

It's time. Time for the rangers to return. After months of not having their ranger powers, it is time for them to get new ones to replace their old ones.

Sonic and Rainbow are in a helicopter hovering above Granite Falls.

"I'm so excited to see our new ranger powers" Rainbow said, unable to wait. She taps on her watch, but nothing seems to be happening. "But, this thing does not seem to be working."

"We need to find something that fits inside this hole," Sonic told Rainbow. "Then, we can unleash the energy within the gems. At least, that's what I heard."

Rainbow then looks over the window and spotted a temple built into the cliffs.

"There it is!" Rainbow pointed out. "The temple!"

Sonic looks out the window and notices that it's glowing. "And it looks like it's unlocked," he observes.

The helicopter doors open, giving way to the skies above the temple.

"Alright, fellas," the pilot said. "Time for you to skydive. Are you ready to enter a new chapter of your lives?"

Sonic and Rainbow picked up their parachutes and stand out in front of the open door.

Sonic gazes at Rainbow. "Ready Rainbow?" he asks.

"Ready when you are, Sonic," Rainbow answers, smiling at him.

Sonic prepares himself to jump. "Okay," he says. "Here we go!"

Sonic and Rainbow then jumps out of the helicopter, diving down towards the temple below.

See you guys over at Gemranger!

 **[End of Season]**

* * *

 **From the Author:**

The end of the transition season, the start of the main series. It feels great to look back at the series' early days when it is still in production. When this episode goes live, it'll be the first year anniversary for when Gemranger first went live.

Goodness, this might be the wordiest episode I've ever written. There's just so much dialogue to read! This episode alone is just shy of 8,000 words, and that's counting everything. Well, what a way to make up for the less wordy episodes.

* * *

Written by TheAPPstore

Sonic the Hedgehog characters property of Sega

My Little Pony characters property of Hasbro


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